Homestart
by inspiredCritic
Summary: DISCONTINUED  Remember all those failed sessions Rose read about? This follows the story of a struggling, yet surviving, session that exists hidden behind the kids' session.
1. START

**Edited with separation points (numbers) now. Hopefully it's easy to read.**

** I will assume you have at least a basic knowledge about Homestuck. It frustrates people having to waste time reading the explanations of things they already know. **

**This is also not a self-insert fic. -_- Although several aspects of characters may be taken from my friends and family, also maybe people I hate.**

** (YOU CAN SKIP TO THE STORY NOW)**

**GUH. There's so much I want to say, but I always forget about it! Um, for starters, this all starts on the same day John starts Sburb. There's really no way it could be after, the Earth being blown up and all, and if it was before that wouldn't make any sense because if my characters had started Sburb before then they would have sent the meteors to Earth before John and co started their games and then they would be dead and I would be destroying canon but oh god that's what Im doing right now isn't it?  
><strong>

**Um, also, you might notice some similarities between my OCs' sessions, the humans' sessions, and the trolls'. Either these are intentional, to create the same kind of parallels Andrew Hussie does, or that's just how the story works out. :/ Hm… Well anyaway:**

**START**

Homestart

[Start]

Start.

A girl with long hair stands in a room. There are two beds laid out in the floor. One is a queen size and made, baby blue comforter pristine. The other is a twin, the blankets bunched at one end and the pillows at the other, a lone laptop in the middle.

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The walls are bare except for a lone poster board. It displays pictures of an older girl with various people. On the ground around the beds is an assortment of shirts, pants, and skirts. A dresser is off to the side, completely forgotten. In a corner is a peeling pink-painted computer desk. A computer and monitor rest on it. To the right of the computer desk is expansive window that is about half the size of the wall it is on.

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The girl is still standing in the middle of the room. She wears a gray hoodie, black baggy jeans, and purple flop-flips. She has smatters of freckles across her face. Her messy hair is a distinct shade of white that could be dirty blonde (if it were colored). On the right side of her head a white pigeon is perched.  
>Apparently this is normal.<p>

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What do you think this girl's name is?  
>{ Messy McBird-Brain [X] }<p>

WRONG! The girl looks offended.

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Your name is KYLIE KING. However, you tend to go by the nickname your friends gave you, Kirie.  
>Your friends are such weaboos.<br>Today is April 13, which is 2 months before your birthday of June 13.

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You will be turning 15, and as such your parents have promised to buy you a new, not shitty, cell phone. Hopefully an iPhone, maybe a Blackberry.

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But for now, you have a mysterious Asian phone that spits back Engrish and god-knows-what at you. The only pluses to the phone is that it has Internet connection and is a touch screen that allows you to draw with a stylus, prompting several crappy pictures to be born and distributed via picture text.

Kirie: Send friends a drawing.

You take out your shitty?-phone and connect to the mobile version of Pesterchum.

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Your chumhandle is adroitRoyalty. A very pretentious name, but you ARE a King, am I right?

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Bad puns aside, _You type_ _in a 'noble' way; with proper punctuation, perfect spelling, and the correct forms of words (YEAH, RIGHT). Tho, sumtimes wen u get mad u jus shorthand evryting, __misspelling words and leaving letters out. __ Your text is a deep purple, purple being your favorite color. Oh, and emoticons are your bitch. :) _

Kirie: Check Pesterchum.

You have mobile Pesterchum 7.0, and your mood is set to Rancorous.  
>ChumRoll<br>[ ] adorablePunk  
>[ ] partyAddict<br>[ ] rejectedArtist  
>[X] reclusivePro<p>

It seems only Niko is online.

Kirie: Pester Niko.

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 17:07 -

AR: Niiiiko?  
>RP: wat<br>AR: What is up with my favorite cousin? :)  
>RP: Nothing<br>AR: Ah... Cool.  
>RP: I played Mr Brightside on the drums today, have you heard that song<br>AR: Cool, and yes, yes I have. BV u askd me dat last sunday nd i sed yes den, 2! B(  
>RP: Oh sorry lol<br>RP: …

RP: Hey, did you ever try out that ROM you downloaded yesterday  
>AR: Huh? Do you mean the Sburb one?<p>

RP: Sure

AR: I'm thinking about it. I'm scared it'll give me a virus. OTL  
>RP: ...wait. It could give you a virus?<br>RP: Why did you send me a link, my dad will get so mad if I get the computer infected!  
>AR: chil da fuck out! u culd ony get a virus if u dwnloadd it! Wich, i no 4 a fac u didn. :p<br>RP: Well... I could have….  
>RA: Sorry<br>AR: S'all rite.  
>AR: I'm gonna try to install the ROM now. Hopefully my comp don't esplode! D8<br>RP: lol  
>RP: bye<br>AR: Bye. :3

- adroitRoyalty [AR] ceased pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 17:11-  
>- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 17:11 -<p>

AR: Almost forgot!  
>AR: (insert picture text here)<br>RP: lol. Is that supposed to be me, its pretty good  
>AR: Yes. :) Thank you~ Gotta go.<p>

- adroitRoyalty [AR] ceased pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 17:12 -

Kirie: Laptop get!

You turn Pesterchum off and walk over to your bed to retrieve your laptop.

Kirie: Turn laptop on.

After booting your laptop up you go through your files. You click on the one called 'ROMs'. Other games are in the folder, but you open up the weird one called Sburb.

Kirie: Explain.

It's strange; you found the game while browsing for a Super Mario Bros. ROM. On this one website was an archive of downloadable ROMs. You had gone to the 'S' section when you spotted the title 'Sburb'. Feeling oddly compelled towards the nonsense word, you had clicked the download link before you realized it. You didn't want to delete the ROM for no reason, so you checked out the uploader's profile. The uploader was panaceaReptile. Pretty legit, he had several other games uploaded, like Phoenix Wright, Final Fantasy, and all the Pokemon games.

After digging around a bit you found a few clues as to what the game was about; something about servers and clients with a set up oddly close to that of the Sims. It was all rather confusing stuff, and there wasn't much helpful facts about the actual gameplay or the purpose. Still, the aura of mystery pulled you towards it.

BEEEEEK

Your ?-phone pops up a message compiled of unintelligible foreign characters. You were startled at the noise but quickly recover. You turn back to the project at hand and start installing Sburb.

Kirie: Wait.

The installation screen starts its slow trek as the percentage bar fills INCREDIBLY slowly. This will not do, you will find something else to do in the meantime.

Kirie: Go downstairs.

There's not much else to do upstairs. Besides you and your sisters' shared room, there's only a bathroom and your parents room. You have no use for the bathroom, and while the prospect of sneaking into your parents' room is thought of, you realize there's nothing to do in there. Well, there is TV and two computers, but there is a TV downstairs and a laptop AND computer in your room. Besides, your mom locks the door and gets pissed if she finds evidence of you trying to break in.

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You quickly glance into your grandmother's room as you walk past it, it being directly to the side of the base of the stairs. The lights are turned off, a sign she's not there. You already know this; she went to a craft fair with your older sister and younger sister.

Kirie: Grouch.

Craft fairs are for pussies. You sure hadn't wanted to go, nuh uh. You were perfectly fine with staying at home...

Alone.  
>Your mother and father both had work today, and are still at their jobs. The rest of your immediate family, grandma and sisters, went to that totally stupid craft fair.<p>

Kirie: Go into living room.

The living room is spacious; it also doubles as a dining room. There is a large table with six mismatched chairs surrounding it. On the other end of the room is the 72 inch TV that you spend hours in front of each day. Guarding the TV is a floral print couch with a matching loveseat that is pressed up against the wall.

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Amongst the school bags on the couch you can see a sparkly pink hairbrush. You gleefully snatch the so not-girly brush up.  
>Before you start getting the tangles out of your hair you decide to retrieve your glasses. You hoist the purple and black backpack into a vertical position and start rummaging around.<p>

Kirie: Get frustrated.

After a bit of intense searching you give up and dump the contents if your bag on the floor. A collection of folders, notebooks, and binders falls out. At the top of the pile lays a very beat up glasses case.  
>Correction, your/ very beat up glasses case.

Kirie: Put glasses on.

With the skill and finesse of generations of nerds before you you slip the glasses up to bridge of your nose. It was so cool.  
>Unfortunately there's no one around to see it.<p>

Kirie: Take glasses off.

You toss the glasses case back into your bag and using a maneuver there is no name you tuck one of the temple arms into your shirt to suspend your glasses for easy access. You only need the specs for seeing far away, anyway.

Kirie: Pet Piggen.

You had almost forgotten about your pigeon. It is actually surprisingly easy to forget about a bird nestled in your hair. When you reach up to stroke your feathery friend he lets out a soft coo and nuzzles your fingers.

Aw~

Kirie: Brush hair.

You carefully remove Piggen from your head and let him perch on the first two fingers of your left hand. Then, you plop down onto the loveseat to commence hair-brushing.

PAIN

At least, you tried to. As soon as the force of you falling onto the loveseat reached the shelves above, the precariously arranged items rattle, but they didn't fall.  
>All except one.<p>

Kirie: Rub head.

You rub the now sore spot on your scalp as Piggen flutters around, trying to help. Glancing to the side you spot the cause of your pain, a purple boomerang. A flush of rage crosses your eyes, you had been searching for that stupid boomerang for FOREVER, and when you finally 'find' it it literally falls into your lap. GOD.

You loved the boomerang, it had been a present your cousin had gotten you last year for your birthday. It had taken a while, about a month or two, to finally master throwing it around, but once you got the hang of it you loved your boomerang and couldn't stop throwing it around. Of course, you only practiced throwing it around in your living room, so you didn't exactly know how to do long distances.

Kirie: Captchalogue Boomerang.

You're not letting this thing out of your sight again EVER. You captchalogue it and it goes straight into your sylladex. You have the Wheel Modus, a frustrating system that you have to spin in order to retrieve your items. It has six slots, and even when you fill in only one spot you still can land on a blank one, which emits nothing.

Kirie: Captchalogue ?-Phone and Hairbrush.

Your ?-phone is just sitting in your pocket, making an uncomfortable rectangular bulge in your jeans. You captchalogue it along with the hairbrush. You can always brush your hair later, your enthusiasm for it has now been stifled.

Kirie: Go into kitchen.

You start feeling a wee bit peckish, so you head into your kitchen. Only half of the 'kitchen' is an actual kitchen, the other half is sort of an indoor garden in which your mother has an array of ivy and flowers. You walk over to the food-preparation side of the kitchen and start a search for a meal. You have a lot of food in the kitchen, but since you are a picky eater it always takes you a while to scrounge something up. This will take at least a few minutes.

Be the boy.

You are now the boy. You are sitting at your computer, staring at it melancholic. You feel depressed and want to talk to someone, but all your family is either at work or school. You stayed home from school today because you are sick. …Heartsick. Your soul is shattered, completely broken by the betrayal you have recently gone through.

Well, that's what everyone else thinks. Sure, you had been crushed when you found out these last few months had all been a lie, but you moved through the stages of depression, denial, anger, and jealousy in a short amount of time. Once you had some time to calm down and think about it, you quickly realized you could do better than her, anyways. She might have dumped you, but you weren't going to mourn over HER loss.

Let her be a lesbian, she's better off that way.

Kirie: Captchalogue food.

Yummy, delicious food. It's been a while since you last ate, so you are eager to find something easy to make. After a bit of poking around you find a Tupperware with leftover pasta in it. You greedily consume the whole thing, leaving no trace of the noodles behind. You then get a handful of sunflowers seeds and let Piggen eat out of your hands. Afterwards you captchalogue some various snack items you found in the pantry; a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi, a bag of pretzels, and a jar of peanut butter (with a spoon).

Yes you have strange tastes, but they are all mofo-in' delicious.

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An annoying beep from your Wheel Modus informs you that with the addition of these three food items you have reached the holding limit of 6 items. Your modus has as follows: your ?-phone, the boomerang, your hairbrush, and the Pepsi, pretzels, and peanut butter.

Your ?-phone starts beeping and vibrating like crazy, indicating you have a message of some sort.

Kirie: Check ?-phone.

After the tedious process of spinning your Wheel Modus 3 times before you get your ?-phone out and then re-captchaloguing all the things that fell out (the boomerang and the bag of pretzels), you check your ?-phone screen and discover Niko has started pestering you.

Kirie: Answer Niko.

- reclusivePro [RP] began pestering adroitRoyalty [AR] at 17:29 –

RP: ky?

AR: Hey. :p

RP: O haii

AR: Fancy meeting you here.

RP: Ikr

AR: :3 You guys still coming over tomorrow?

RP: 4 sure, you still aggraphobic

AR: ?

AR: Oh, do you mean agoraphobic?

RP: if that means fear of leaving your house, yes

AR: :V I am not scared of leaving my house!

RP: suuure

AR: well, iz not lik u leev ur hose muc eider!

RP: im going to your house tomorrow aren't I, when did you last leave yours

AR: it dun matter

AR: geez

- adroitRoyalty [AR] ceased pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 17:33 -

Kirie: Go upstairs.

You're not scared to leave the house! You just… don't. There's nothing wrong with not going outside for a week… Or two… Or three months….

You gripe to yourself as you stomp up the stairs. It's not like you don't EVER go outside; you go to school and all that shiz. It's just you don't leave your home after school or on the weekends.

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Once in your room you shuffle over to your bed and flop onto it. You lift your head to gaze at the laptop screen, which is showing your screensaver, a slideshow of pictures of you and Piggen. You raise your arm and give his wing an absentminded stroke before moving into a sitting position and tapping the laptop's touch pad.

Kirie: Check on installation progress.

After the screen saver fades away you discover the Sburb installer is at 95 percent. You cuss the laptop out, it's been around 20 minutes since you started the installation process and it STILL isn't finished. Ah well, you can find something else to do in the meantime.

Kirie: Clean room.

By 'cleaning the room' you mean pushing all the clothes around with your feet into a pile. Such taxing work, but someone's got to do it. You manage to get rid of five minutes doing this and check back to see to see the installation is at 98 percent. UGH.

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You decide to try to kill the rest of the time by pestering your cousin. Sure, just a few minutes ago you had been pissed at him, but you were over that now. And you were very bored.

Kirie: Pester Niko.

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 17:39 -

AR: Niko! Whatcha doin? :D

RP: heyy why'd you stop talking last time

AR: It's a girl thing. You wouldn't understand. :P

RP: girls are way too complex for me…

AR: :c Sorry Niko… And, I'm sorry Mallory dumped you.

RP: for a cheerleader named Jessica  
>AR: ^^' I'm so sorry… I thought when I introduced you two she wouldn't ever do something like this… She's usually so nice..<p>

RP: shes a dirtbag, we dated for a year and a half and only this weekend I figure out shes been cheating on me for a month

AR: In my defense I tried to tell you… Everyone did, you just were too loyal to her to believe us. :(

RP: see where that got me….

AR: :C I had no idea she was even bi. She never seemed interested in girls before.

RP: ya well its a huge blow to my ego

RP: dating a girl to find out she's attracted to girls

RP: :/

AR: XD You're a pretty boy!

RP: nuh uh im handsome :)

AR: You're a beautiful man.

RP: you know it

RP: lol

AR: XD

RP: sooo did you download that thing?

RP: ?

AR: Yep! It's downloading right now! 99%! o

RP: oh kk

RP: hey I have to check on something

RP: be back later

- reclusivePro [RP] ceased pestering adroitRoyalty [AR] at 17:44 -

- reclusivePro has signed off -

AR: Wait what?

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Well, that was a deep conversation. You flip back to the Sburb window and are delighted to see it says 100 percent.

Kirie: Start Sburb.

Your eyes flicker over the screen. It reads as follows:

SBURB CLIENT

SBURB version 0.0.1

(c) SKAINET SYSTEMS INCORPORATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

SBURB client is running.

Press [ENTER] when ready.

You stretch your fingers out and eagerly press the enter button.

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ERROR!

A box pops out and informs you:

[ERROR! You are in need of a SERVER PLAYER or a PLAYER to be a SERVER of.

Search for:

[[Server Player]] or [[Client Player]] ]

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After screaming obscenities at the laptop you calm down and think carefully about your choice. It would be fun to control someone, but you wouldn't know what to do and you would probably cause more harm than good. So, after a bit of hesitation you hit the [Search for a Server Player] button.

Kirie: Search for a server player.

The window changes and a blue screen with swirls displays a pulsing message:

{Searching for a Server Player: Please wait}

Cadeus: Wake up.

**And, that's Chapter 1! :D ….Day-um. Over 3,000 words long. *whistle* **

**Hope you liked it, as you can see I took several liberties with Sburb. Hopefully nothing too destructive… The whole not being able to use arrows on FF really bums me out. I can't really do Homestuck format without them…**

**Also, after the next chapter I will ask for your opinion on whose POV I should have the next chapter in. I have 3 OCs and like in Homestuck all their timelines overlap. I could write about a certain time in 3 different chapters, one over each character.  
>Review, ask questions, flame, I don't care. As long as I know I didn't spend over a week researching and writing rough drafts so that no one would read it. <strong>


	2. WAKE UP

**Edited to make it easier on the eyes.**

**The introduction of a new character! 030 Woo! This reminds me, instead of having 3 OCs I will have four. I initially stayed away from the number four, because Homestuck itself has 4 main characters. That's why I originally had 6 people, but after consideration I shortened my list to 3 and now it's back to four… I can't outrun 4, I guess.**

2- Wake up

[WAKE UP]

Cadeus: Wake up.

You cannot just simply _wake up_. You must first _break out_.

Study Cadeus.

The room Cadeus is in is a dark, warm cavern. Against one wall is a large glass container filled with green fluid and sealed tightly. Cadeus himself floats suspended in the liquid, curled in the fetal position. ...or should you say _grubal_ position. The troll boy's skin is a gray color, of course it is also distorted green from being surrounded by the fluid. His hair is black, chin length, and shaggy. It drifts aimlessly around Cadeus's head. His eyes are shut tightly, probably to stop the fluid from seeping through his eyelids. Against his bottom lip are his top canines, they jut out from his gums to form fangs. Also fang-like, his candy corn- colored horns start right above his ears and curve downwards towards his chin into a point.

Examine room.

The cavern is made completely made of light gray stone. Some of the rocks seem to have squiggly designs on them- OH MY GOD THEY'RE SNAKES.

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Snakes are on every surface. The floor, the recuperacoon in the middle of the room, even on the computer desk built as a shelf into the wall. And- HOLY SHIT. CURLED AROUND THE BOTTOM OF THE CONTAINER IS A FRIKKIN **BIG ASS COBRA**.  
>Damn.<p>

Examine Cobra.

The cobra is monstrous, probably twice the size of Cadeus were they both standing up. Four times if the snake was laid out straight. It is also pure white, and it curls itself around the glass as if it were trying to protect its inhabitant.  
>This must be Cadeus's lusus.<p>

Look at something else.

The recuperacoon is standard, the only thing different about it is that it is a dark green, with black marking designs to try to make it look like scales. The sopor slime inside looks untouched, and after a brief comparison you notice the fluid Cadeus floats in is a darker green than the slime. The recuperacoon is also dusty, snake trails are noticeable.

Look at computer shelf.

There is nothing else you haven't seen in the room, except for snakes, so it seems the obvious thing to do. The shelf is green, the monitor green, and the tower green. Guess somebody likes green, huh? The (also green) computer chair lies near the shelf, tipped over as if someone was in a hurry…

The computer itself is actually on, the snakes on it seem to have figured out how to work it. There are some sprawled on the keyboard, while three of them work the mouse. The snakes are on a site called Trolltube.

When one of the snakes on the mouse slips and minimizes the browser, you can see a green background and a Trollian window is open. Obviously this is Cadeus's. He has only 2 people in his Trollslum, but as he is in invisible mode he appears offline to them.

Look at Trolltag.

The snakes pull up their minimized browser before you can.

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Suddenly, there is a loud 'whoosh' sound emitted from the computer. The closest snakes to the (green) speakers have all jumped off in shock. There is a deep rumble and from behind the cobra appears, having detached itself from around Cadeus's computer.

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It tastes the air, and its head flits back and forth, the huge eyes taking in their surroundings. Visibly relaxing, the large white snake rears itself up and its back lets out a barrage of cracking sounds. Now content with its back popped, the snake leans down and examines the computer.

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On the screen is a message in a white box. The message reads:

[PLAYER adroitRoyalty IS TRYING TO CONNECT WITH YOU.

CONNECT WITH adroitRoyalty AND BECOME THEIR SERVER PLAYER?]

The message is followed by [YES] and [NO] choice boxes.

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The cobra is studying the message, listening carefully to the shrill beeps the message carries with it. Turning itself slowly, the snake bunches its coils towards Cadeus and springs forward.

Directly on a crash course for Cadeus's glass container.

Container: Break.

Of course, when a **big ass cobra** slams into your fragile covering with enough force to break down several walls that is exactly what you do.

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The container spews out a mixture of broken glass, fluid, and troll boy. Catching his charge, the (newly revealed male) cobra lowers Cadeus onto a blanket some of the more intelligent snakes have laid out. The blanket is also green. After the awkward (awkward because of a snake's limited movements) task of drying Cadeus off with some convenient towels (the towels are also green) brought by even more snakes, the Cobra lusus curls his body around the troll boy and anxiously waits for his charge's awakening.

**Alright, I know this chapter is noticeably different in length from the last one, 3,000 something compared to 796, but hey, that was the first chapter, I had to cram as much info as I could into it. Shorter chapters equal shorter time between updates! :D**

**Also, yes, he's a troll. I **_**will **_**explain why he's still alive after the Vast Glub, but all in good time. Several questions will be answered later on, examples: 'Why is Cadeus still alive?', 'Why is Sburb already downloaded?', 'Why does he have Sburb, not Sgrub?', 'How do SNAKES know how to work a computer?', and many more. You can still ask, and I might answer a little bit.**

**The whole 'it is also green' will probably just be continued on for the sake of humor. …*sigh* And yes, this chapter technically does not have much Cadeus in it. It will still technically be a 'Cadeus chapter'. This, technically doesn't mean very much. Technically.**

**Questions for you, the dear reader, to answer in your review:**

**Who's point of view do you want to see next chapter?**

**Continue with Kirie.**

**Continue with Cadeus. (It will be hard to continue with Kirie until I continue with Cadeus)**

**Introduce Niko.**

**Introduce the 4th OC. Which brings me to my second question:**

**Which of these OCs (these are only chumhandles and names, and they're all girls) would you like in the story?**

**Eva Stawitz [rejectedArtist]**

**Mallory Gray [adorablePunk]**

**Lupita Fuentes [partyAddict]**

**Or you can give a name suggestion! It just has to be a girl's, and you can do both the handle and the name, or just one or the other. :p**

**I look forward to your reviews! :)**

**Just so you know, if no one reviews, then we'll continue on with Cadeus next chapter.**


	3. WAKE UP 2

**Bet you weren't expecting me to update twice in one day, huh? See, I only write on special days when I feel up to it, today was a REALLY good day. :) So, how 'bout this, I upload all I've got when I can, and you don't ever ask when I'm going to update? That's a good system right thurr. This chapter is a bit longer than the last, over a thousand words. I don't think I'll ever write something like that 3,000 word monstrosity Chapter 1 was.  
><strong>

**I think I'm going to start using the chapter's number as the mode of separation. :/ I can't use arrows, equal signs, or dashes, so I think this is the next best thing. ….Alright, later on we will have a whole monologue by Cadeus's lusus. You might proclaim that I am the biggest bullshitter alive for coming up with this (possibly insane) idea, but I thought that it was okay…. This will answer several questions, but it will also bring more up. *shrug* Come at me bro, I'm thinking for Chapter 5 or 6 I will have a whole question special, which I don't know if it's such a great idea since it's early on in the story. Anyway, any questions you have after reading this confusing chapter, ask and you shall receive. Whether it's in a PM, a question special, or later on in the story, I won't leave you hanging. :p **

3- Wake Up 2

[WAKE UP 2]

Cadeus: Wake up.

You open your eyes to see larger ones peering into your own. You slowly smile and shakily raise your hand to stroke your custodian's nose (or lack of). Your lusus, which you have fondly nicknamed Esset, joyfully rubs the palm of your hand with his snout.

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Your name is CADEUS PENSER. You are 6 and a half Alternian sweeps old, or at least you were when you went into your (green) Stasis Shield. No telling how long it's been since then

You're pretty CHILL, and you don't have many friends because YOUR LUSUS IS ALL YOU NEED. When you can you try to hone your MENTAL ABILITIES. You can HYPNOTIZE people and if you're careful you can READ THEIR THOUGHTS.

333

Cadeus: Stand up.

You just manage to fall back onto your ass. Cursing up a green storm, you rub the offended area before scanning your surroundings. Through your slitted pupils you see your room, same as it always has been. Except for the dust and a few extra snakes lying about.

Cadeus: Be pitiful.

You whine to your lusus who dutifully supports you so you can stand. Feeling quite proud of yourself, you start to dance, and are caught once again by your lusus when you fall over. Once you are righted once more your lusus starts coaxing you over to your (green) computer shelf. Not the kind of party you were expecting when you woke up, but you know your custodian wouldn't have revived you from your shield unless he had a good reason.

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Your lusus makes a coil around you to support you while he sets the chair right side up. Once it is correctly positioned Esset presses you into the chair and then curls around it.

Cadeus: Check screen.

You brush all the snakes you can off the desk. The way they swarm around your hive really pisses you off, but Esset likes the other snake's company so he won't scare them off. Once the computer shelf is wriggling rather than writhing you glance at the computer screen and see the box already typed in the last chapter. You send a confused glance towards Esset, who is hovering over your shoulder. The cobra just simply wraps the tip of his tail around your hand before moving it to the mouse, then moving the mouse until the cursor is held over the [YES] box. He then removes his tail before giving you a pointed look and retreating.

Cadeus: Click yes.

You don't hesitate to click the three letter word. If Esset thinks you should do it, then you should.

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The screen shifts colors, starting at green and then moving slowly towards blue-green. You don't really want to wait, but you kind of have to. You sigh and lean your head onto your arm. Then you look down and flush green. You had forgotten you weren't wearing clothes, they would have gotten ruined after floating in the stasis fluid.

Cadeus: Get dressed.

You have to first bring attention to yourself to Esset, and with his help you get up and start practicing moving again. It's easy to bring yourself back into the grubal (AN: Larval?) position, but stretching out requires your custodian's assistance.

333

After about twenty minutes you can move semi-normally again, it would have been a LOT longer had Esset not hypnotized your think pan into moving your muscles (AN: Sorry, I don't know what the Troll equivalent of muscles would be. :c) for you. Your lusus is so awesome.

Cadeus: NOW Get dressed.

Your clothes are actually in another room, so you give Esset a pat on the snout before hurrying to the weapon's facility/clothes storage area (AN: Another case of me not knowing the troll equivalent. For things that I make up/don't do I'll put NTE ((No Troll Equivalent)).)

Esset: Stare at computer screen.

While your charge goes off to cover himself you sit patiently and think about what has happened over these last few months (NTE). An alien girl invaded your mind. It sounds crazy, yes it does, but it truly happened.

333

You were in a deep meditative state when suddenly, across universes, she trapped your subconscious in her vicious grip. While she held you she told you things, such strange things about her ways and her planet. It took a long period of time but at the end you had a basic grasp of this… human culture.

She sent you a file she said had been destined to go to your charge, along several other files that she said were necessary. You installed the strange file the girl sent you, but waited for Cadeus to start the game, as were the girl's instructions. She then further instructed you to go and upload the file along with the other files onto a human website, with an account using his charge's tag. Once all this was done she relaxed and started telling you her family lore.

Apparently the girl's family had been waiting centuries, a human increment of time, for this special time. The time when their heir would contact a member of a long dead alien civilization and…. play a game together? That part sounded sketchy, but the girl assured you it was all part of a plan bigger than the both of them.

333

The plan had apparently been set in stone for sweeps, and apparently through some messed up ritual the girl's family had been the ones to warn you about the Glub. When she told you that, you were shocked, but you had to believe her, how else would she know about the Vast Glub?

Esset: Dredge up the past.

Back many sweeps ago, before this stupid human girl's universe was even created, a chorus of voices had told you about the coming of the Glub. It had been right before you had gained Cadeus as your charge, and needless to say you had been freaked out.

333

You had taken your innocent (well, innocent as a young troll could be after its trials) ward far from most other trolls, and together (along with several carpenter droids) you had built a sprawling labyrinth of caverns deep underground. It was safe; you knew as such because you lived near a Virgin Mother Grub. If any enemies came around they would target her and leave you alone. …It was a terrible thing to say, but in this world you only cared for yourself and more importantly your charge.

333

You had the carpenter droids build the glass container, which, after you glanced over at the shattered glass, turned out to be the right thing to do. For 6 and a half sweeps you filled that container with the paralyzing venom your fangs secreted, and every so often you also gave your ward a miniscule amount through a scratch, so that if you ever accidentally DID bite him his body wouldn't freeze up.

When the time came that the terrible beast started the Vast Glub , you hurriedly sealed your charge into the container, which Cadeus had dubbed the 'Stasis Shield'. It worked, your ward was essentially paralyzed, frozen in time so the Glub didn't affect him. But, you didn't remove him just then, the echoes could bounce back and hit him. So, after many, many sweeps, the day that apparently the human girl's family had prophesized about had come. You broke the Shield and started the motion of this strange game.

…And, we have seen what happened next…

(AN: Stasis means 'the state of equilibrium or inactivity caused by opposing equal forces' or more grossly: 'a stagnation in the normal flow of bodily fluids, such as the blood or urine'. So yeah, either way it fits. :B )

**It seems every time I write about Cadeus I focus on something else. XD Sorry Caddy-baby! And, I hope I didn't lose anyone with Esset's monologue. I realize that I totally bended the laws of physics, but doesn't Homestuck do the same? ._. …Please don't get frustrated at my butchering of this fandom….**

**Same questions as last time:**

**Whose point of view do you want to see next chapter?**

**Continue with Kirie.**

**Continue with Cadeus. (It will be hard to continue with Kirie until I continue with Cadeus, again ^^')**

**Introduce Niko.**

**Introduce the 4th OC. **

**Which of these OCs would you like in the story?  
>Eva Stawitz [rejectedArtist]<strong>

**Mallory Gray [adorablePunk]**

**Lupita Fuentes [partyAddict]**

**Or a name and chumhandle suggestion, it just has to be a girl's.**

**Bye! Reviews make me actually get a plot! :D …Hopefully….. :(**


	4. FOURTH

**Disclaimer: I keep forgetting to mention, I don't own Homestuck! :p**

**As was suggested I introduce the 4th OC in this chapter! Yaaay! Okay, it may seem to you that in her bio I tell you too much, but I don't have a thousand pages to build up suspense on what her goal is. There are several questions that will arise from this chapter, some that you think are quite obvious. I WILL answer them, but all in due time! Also, I will in due time get a plot, I'm guessing that each character will get 2 chapters for introductions (only one for Kirie because her first was so damn long). I'm thinking that chapter 8 will be a Q and A, just to be an interlude and to answer any remaining questions about characters.  
><strong>

**This OC is…. eccentric. You might question some of her actions but at the end I will explain. **

**(Any similarities to actual groups or people in real life are coincidental. I don't mean to offend anyone, and if I do then I won't be sure why.)**

**Enjoy the chapter. :)**

4- Fourth

[FOURTH]

iC: Introduce 4th OC.

A car is speeding down a highway. Inside the car are four people, three of them dressed in long robes with hoods covering their faces. The fourth is a girl in a gauzy white sundress. Her hair is a dark black that goes to her chin, and her bangs go down to her nose, covering her eyes. Around the girl's neck is a black choker with a white circle on it. The girl's hands are gripping the straps of a duffel bag in an almost lazy way.

What will this girl's name be?

{CrazyCult Chick}

The girl smiles and the text fade fades away to be replaced by:

{Eva Stawitz}

444

Your name is EVA STAWITZ, and you are on your way to the last meeting of THE FAMILY. You have been groomed your whole life to fulfill your purpose as their HEIR, and today, April 13th, will be the day you start towards their goal of CREATING A UNIVERSE. Once you create this universe, you and your fellow gamemates will be SUPREME RULERS of a civilization based on the teachings of The Family, which you have stored in the duffle bag clasped in your hands.

444

Well, in theory that is how it will happen. Apparently since you are a 'ghost session' hidden behind the main session in your universe you will have to wait until the main session either completes its purpose or fails before you can create your universe. You don't expect it to take long, either way.

444

You arrive at The Family's secret meeting place, which is cleverly disguised as a library. Hidden in shelves are tomes of the ancients, which you will also need in your new universe. Once you get to the doors you say a quick goodbye to your (biological) family. They are not important enough to be at The Family's final meeting.

Eva: Enter library.

You enter the _secret meeting place _and are surprised at the number of people. There are dozens of people standing around, much more than at the usual meetings. It is to be expected though, the most important members on the seven continents have all come for your sendoff.

Eva: Warmly greet the guests who have traveled across oceans just to see you.

Fuck that shit. You breeze past everyone, enjoying how the low murmur of conversation abruptly stops as everyone trains their eyes towards you.

444

The simple white dress was made by one of your Grandmothers, the best dressmakers in The Family had all been competing on what you should wear on your journey in the game. You had finally chosen the plain dress because it showed you were just an innocent young girl. The simpleness of it said you were a darling little angel who didn't care much about fancy jewels or ribbons. You also had neglected to wear shoes just to highlight your childish innocence.

444

It was a nice tactic, lull everyone into thinking you were not dangerous. Even if anyone dared to oppose you, they couldn't. You had The Mark, a mark the ancients had put on you while you were still in your mother's womb. It was an X shaped mark, about the length of your pinky across each intersecting line. It was located on your left shoulder blade, the top of it peeking out from underneath the straps of your dress.

Eva: Walk to check out desk.

You glide over to your _sacred starting station _and plop down into the chair. With the flick of your hand you dismiss everyone, you should give a speech but you don't want to.

444

The robed mass immediately heads for the door, the more daring ones come up and bow at you before scurrying off. Once every member is out the door the Supreme Father of The Family locks the door before leaving for the designated Prayer Temple, a schoolhouse that The Family has rented out for the weekend.

444

When you are sure no one is around you set the duffel bag aside before jumping out of your chair and running down the library's long hallways. Leaping and skipping about you visit different rooms and collect items that you have placed there before.

You collect a belt full of different knives, sleek shurikens and throwing knives as projectiles; Bowie knives, machetes, and daggers for close combat. You eve have a Swiss Army Knife that isn't very useful in a fight but is fun to play with.

444

Sure, knives weren't the best weapon out there, they could be easily beat by a gun, but you were confident in the years of training The Fathers had given you. One of the Fathers in particular was a Vietnam veteran, and when he broke out of his incessant mutterings about 'Charlie' he told you about a maneuver where he killed 7 of the enemy in fifteen seconds just with a Bowie knife. In twenty seconds he had killed 13 Vietnamese.

In fact, you had the very same Bowie knife used to kill those soldiers strapped securely onto your belt.

444

You patted the knife and grinned a tiny bit. You loved your knives sooo much!

Eva: Go to the Escher section.

It's not as much a section as it is a shelf on which the M.C. Escher art books are placed, but who cares! You're in control now!

444

You hum different parts of songs as you pull your sketchbook out the shelf. You like to store it here so you can have an excuse to look at Escher's books over again. Reluctantly you pull back and head off towards the station (AN: main desk), you can always come back later.

Eva: Captchalogue knife belt and sketchbook.

Doy, you weren't quite sure what you were doing carrying them around in your arms like that. You must have a good reason, everything you do has a good reason. That's what your Family tells you.

You already have your knives assigned to a strife card (knifekind), and you store them along with your sketchbook in your Purse Modus. It's a fairly simple modus, the items are stored where you can reach them at anytime. Sometimes, though, if you really need something it seems to slip to the bottom of the stack and you have to dig it up.

444

After making it back to the sacred starting station, you are about to sit down but an armchair across the room catches your attention. Glancing at the stiff backed chair in front of you, you hesitate about a quarter of a second before kicking the chair over and loping off towards the plush armchair. You drag it across the room, scratching the floor and moving some rugs in the process.

Eva: Relax in chair.

With the chair in place you sink into it, grateful for its soft covering. After lazing about for a good minute you slowly move your arm onto the keyboard and press the space bar. The computer stops showing its screensaver and reveals a beach background. You pull the duffel bag to you and remove a flashdrive. You insert the flashdrive into the back of the computer and wait for the files to load.

444

With all the files on your home computer now accessible you start installing several things you will need. The first one done is Pesterchum. You sign in but keep yourself invisible so the plan doesn't get screwed up. When Sburb is done you pull it up and set your status to [CLIENT].

Eva: Check time.

You pop your neck and fingers. You glance down at the time and feel yourself widely grin as you see it is 5:44 (17:44). Hurriedly changing your status on Pesterchum to Available, you start to compose a message to your good friend [adroitRoyalty].

444

You can't stop the giggles bubbling up in the back of your throat. They escape from your mouth in torrents and if you look close you can see them as bubbles. This is so _exhilarating_, finally being able to fulfill your whole life's purpose! Well, it will take a while, but you are confident you can do it. You narrow your eyes and your giggles turn into chuckles, slowly lowering in pitch.

Let the game begin.

**And there we go, the insane 4th OC is introduced! Word Count: 1,334**

**(If you want to skip this block of text, go down to the number 444)**

**Yes, she is crazy. To be politically correct she is mentally unwell, being raised by a crazed cult will do that to a person. I would say it is a religious cult, but they don't follow God, Yahweh, Allah, or anything like that. They have their own religion, but they just refer to it and the people who follow it as 'The Family'.**

**Eva is what they would consider a Messiah or savior. She is their chosen 'heir', and she will continue 'The Family' on in the new universe. They already know their universe will be destroyed by what we know as John and co's session. How they obtain their knowledge is strange, their spirits leave their bodies, like shaman, and travel across time, space, and universes. This is how Eva was able to contact Esset, she found him at the right time and captured his mind with her own. And after that (our time), she commanded The Family to go back and warn him of the Vast Glub. It's a rather strange paradox, she told Esset that her 'Family' had warned him, and then she told her 'Family' to warn him.**

**Why 'The Family' assembled these other 3 players specifically is a mystery that will most likely be answered later. B) I'm such a tease~**

**Anyway, back to Eva: She has been worshipped by 'The Family' since she was born, therefore she thinks she can do no wrong. But as with everything, some people don't approve of her. Whether it's because she's a girl, where she lives, or even if they just don't like her, she has a group of dissenters who try to mold her into what they want her to be. As such, she has trust issues stemming from when she was a child and people would get close to her only to try to influence her to follow their mindsets.**

**She also has a severe case of being unable to find a valid point in some of her trust issues, shown in the chapter when she talks about appearing 'not dangerous', but then a sentence later concludes that even if people thought she posed a threat they couldn't do anything about it.**

**Jeez that was long. ._. Hope I didn't lose anyone with my craziness. I know I confused you. T.T You guys must think I'm crazy with this entire plot twisting…**

**444**

**Questions!**

**Whose point of view do you want to see next chapter?**

**Continue with Kirie. (Part 2)**

**Continue with Cadeus. (Part 3)**

**Introduce Niko. (Part 1)**

**Continue with Eva. (Part 2)**

**And I need some help with some Sburb things:**

**1. What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**2. What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a **_**meaning. **_**I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**I think that's it for now. :)**

**Thank you, have a pleasant night/day/morning/afternoon/evening/teatime.**

**Bye y'all!**


	5. NIKO

**Disclaimer: I have no Homestuck. D: However, I DO own a Jade cosplay that I'm working on.**

**(Nice chapter title, huh? :I)**

**Forgot to mention this last chapter, Eva is 14 and her birthday is July 5th. Also, maybe you caught onto this earlier, but there is a one hour difference in time between John's session and this session. This is because everyone in this session (besides Cadeus) is in a time zone 1 hour ahead of John's. :p**

**We're introducing a new character this chapter. Also, some things might be confusing. For a little reference try to think:**

**Kirie equals John.**

**Cadeus equals Rose.**

**Niko equals Dave.**

**Eva equals Jade.**

**That is all.**

555

There is a young man sitting at a computer desk. He has chin length brown hair that covers one eye, and the visible eye is dull and has a dark circle under it. He is skinny, like REALLY skinny. Anorexic-looking skinny. He wears a loose fitting black T-shirt and blue jeans that are a bit too short. His knees are pulled up to his chest, his sock covered feet curled around the edge of the seat tightly.

555

What shall this boy's name be?

{CheerUp EmoKid}

He just sends you a patronizing look and sighs.

555

Your name is NIKLAUS SMITH. However, your COUSIN has always called you NIKO, and it has stuck with everyone else. You are 15 years old, and your BIRTHDAY is NOVEMBER 2nd. You like VIDEO GAMES and PLAYING THE GUITAR AND DRUMS. You get DEPRESSED a lot, and you have to go to THERAPY because your mother thinks you might HURT YOURSELF. You won't though, you HATE PAIN.

Niko: Answer Ky.

(AN: This convo is from the first chapter.)

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 17:39 -

AR: Niko! Whatcha doin? :D

RP: heyy why'd you stop talking last time

AR: It's a girl thing. You wouldn't understand. :P

RP: girls are way too complex for me…

AR: :c Sorry Niko… And, I'm sorry Mallory dumped you.

RP: for a cheerleader named Jessica  
>AR: ^^' I'm so sorry… I thought when I introduced you two she wouldn't ever do something like this… She's usually so nice..<p>

RP: shes a dirtbag, we dated for a year and a half and only this weekend I figure out shes been cheating on me for a month

AR: In my defense I tried to tell you… Everyone did, you just were too loyal to her to believe us. :(

RP: see where that got me….

AR: :C I had no idea she was even bi. She never seemed interested in girls before.

RP: ya well its a huge blow to my ego

RP: dating a girl to find out she's attracted to girls

RP: :/

AR: XD You're a pretty boy!

RP: nuh uh im handsome :)

AR: You're a beautiful man.

RP: you know it

RP: lol

AR: XD

RP: sooo did you download that thing?

RP: ?

AR: Yep! It's downloading right now! 99%!

RP: oh kk

RP: hey I have to check on something

RP: be back later

- reclusivePro [RP] ceased pestering adroitRoyalty [AR] at 17:44 -

Niko: Check on tea.

You carefully lower one leg after the other onto the ground before slowly making your way out of the living room and into the kitchen. You have a pot of tea boiling on the stove, and you turn the heat off before pouring the steaming tea into a pitcher. You get a cup and drop a few ice cubes into it before pouring yourself half a cup of tea. Yes, you drink tea strong and with no sugar.

555

You stand there for a few minutes and simply sip your tea, trying to relax like your therapist told you to. As much as you try, you can't stop your shoulders from hunching upwards and your fists from clenching.

Niko: Make yourself some food.

You make yourself a cheese sandwich. Even though your cousin teases you and calls you anorexic, you really just have a fast metabolism. Though, to be fair, you usually don't like to let people watch you eat and so your cousin never sees you.

Niko: Play guitar.

You have a black Fernandes Nomad(AN: Don't own that company. :I Or that guitar…), a small guitar that has an amp built in. You pick it up along with a small generator attached to a belt. You use the generator when you aren't near a plug outlet. However, you don't need it right now so you captchalogue it into your iPod Touch (AN: Don't own that). You have a Sylladex app that allows you captchalogue items just like a modus. Yeah, there's an app for that.

With your generator tucked away you plug your amp in and start jamming. You've been playing guitar since you were 8, your dad taught you all that you know. You also play the drums, but you have only been playing them for about 5 months.

555

You stop playing when you notice Pesterchum has popped up a new chat log. You walk over and see messages from your cousin's friend, Eva. You always felt awkward when she talked to her; she seemed to have a crush on you. After a quick mental debate you decide to answer her, you can always block her if she gets too creepy.

Your chumhandle is reclusivePro, and you have no capitalization, a lack of punctuation, and you have a lot of run-on sentences, you use txtspk sometimes, and you use a lot of commas

Niko: Answer Eva.

- rejectedArtist [RA] began pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 17:54 -

RA: Niko~ :3

RA: I know you are there :) Answer me :D

RP: hi

RA: Hi :D It is really nice to talk to you again ^^

RP: uh thanks

RA: You are SO welcome 8D

RP: heh, yeah

RP: …

RA: How are you :) Have you talked to Kirie recently :3

RP: im good, no, not since earlier

RA: Right :) I am going to send you something (: I want you to download it ^^

RP: wha :/

RA: Wait :I Kirie sent you that Sburb file, right :o That makes my job easier, I do not have to send you it myself ^^ Yay :D

RP: how did u know that

RA: B)

RA: Just install it :) It will not give a virus, I promise ^^

RP: uh okay

RA: Pester me when the installation is done, okay :)

RP: kay

reclusivePro [RP] ceased pestering rejectedArtist [RA] at 17:59

RA: HeHeHe

555

You search through your files for the Sburb one when it hits you like a ton of bricks that you had signed out of Sburb after talking to Kylie earlier. You shiver, that Eva chick was creepy with the way she knew things she shouldn't and seemed to be able to do things she shouldn't be able to do.

Niko: Open file.

You finally find the file and open it up. As your cursor move over the Sburb icon, you hesitate. You're not sure if you should trust Eva. You bite your lip and try to figure out what to do.

A Pesterchum window pops up in front of you.

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 18:00 -

AR: Listen to her and download Sburb.

- adroitRoyalty [AR] ceased pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 18:00 -

555

You sit there a bit shocked and contemplate messaging her back. You shake your head a bit before deciding to go ahead and install it.

Niko: Install Sburb.

You double-click the icon and wait. The installation window pops up and you watch as it installs rather quickly. You let a tiny smile onto your face, having a computer programmer as an older brother had its perks. The installation should take a few minutes, while, if you remember correctly, your cousin's took around 30 minutes (AN: It was actually 39 minutes. :p)

Your cousin is fiercely loyal to the mini-laptop her parents got her a few years ago. It was free, an added bonus they got when they bought a new TV. Her parents originally gave it to her older sister, but she gave it up after their parents bought the girls a new computer for Christmas. Kylie had decided to use the laggy little laptop instead of waiting for turns on the main computer. She still used the main computer sometimes, like when she and you wanted to Skype (AN: Don't own that.).

555

You and your cousin have an odd relationship; you have seen each other once a week ever since you were kids. Once technology advanced you started calling each other, then emailing each other, and now you could pester each other. You didn't consider her your _best _friend, and in turn she didn't consider you hers. However, you were still extremely close and told each other secrets you didn't tell anyone else.

Niko: Check screen.

It was flashing at you, trying to get your attention. You check it and see the installation is at 100%.

A box reads as follows:

SBURB CLIENT

SBURB version 0.0.1

(c) SKAINET SYSTEMS INCORPORATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

SBURB client is running.

Press [ENTER] when ready.

Niko: Press enter.

Like in the 1st chapter, an error message pops up and informs you you need to either search for a client or a server. You frown and decide to message Eva back like she said earlier.

- reclusivePro [RP] began pestering rejectedArtist [RA] at 18:04 –

RP: eva, i downloaded sburb

RA: Really :D That is great ^^

RP: ya, should i look for a server or client

RA: No no no :O I'm going to be your client, set your status to server :L

RP: kk

You set your status to [SERVER].

Within seconds you see a line of text appearing and saying:

CLIENT FOUND

CLIENT ATTEMPTING TO CONNECT

CLIENT CONNECTED

RP: wut now

RA: Well.

RA: Now we shall play the game.

**Now we're goin'! :D Wow, I managed to fit Niko's entire introduction into 1 chapter! Woo! Let's see:**

**Kirie- 1 chapter**

**Niko- 1 chapter**

**Eva- 1 chapter (so far)**

**Cadeus- 2 chapters (so far)**

**Questions:**

**Who do you want the next chapter to be about?**

**Eva, Kirie, or Cadeus? (Niko can't move on till later)**

**And I need some help with some Sburb things:**

**1. What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**2. What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a **_**meaning. **_**I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**Have a nice day~**


	6. ANSWER

**Disclaimer: Andrew Hussie owns Homestuck. Any brand names you recognize I don't own.**

**Chapter told in Eva POV.**

**ANSWER**

[ANSWER]

Eva: Pester Kirie.

Your chumhandle is rejectedArtist. You type using capitalization :) In place of punctuation you use smilies (: You don't really like using contractions C: Your font color is just plain black ^^

- rejectedArtist [RA] began pestering adroitRoyalty [AR] at 17:45 -

RA: Kirie :) Hi ^^

AR: Hi Eva. :)

RA: What are you doing :)

AR: Oh, I downloaded a ROM last night, and I have to connect to another player to play it. So right now I'm waiting to connect with someone. -_-

RA: That is cool :D What is this game called :)

AR: Um, it's called Sburb. Weird name, huh? :I

RA: :O

RA: What a coincidence :D I downloaded a game called Sburb last night 8D

AR: Really? Cool! Maybe we can play together! :D

RA: That would be SO cool :3

RA: Are you a server or a client :)

AR: I'm a client. :)

RA: Oh no, I'm a client too D:

AR: Aw... What is the deal with the client/server settings, anyway? :/

RA: Well, not that I know much about this game, but it seems that once you set it you cannot change it for a while :3

RA: Or something :)

AR: :) Huh, yeah, that seems possible.

RA: This ROM actually seems to be a compilation of two disks :I The original disks were server and client ones :)

AR: Huh? Oh yeah, I think I remember reading something like that when I was looking around for info on Sburb. :/ I just ignored it, I didn't see the point in messing around with stuff I didn't have to deal with.

RA: Okay then :)

AR: Sooo, are you playing yet?

RA: No, I'm waiting for a certain someone to be my server B3

AR: :? Who?

RA: Hey, is Piggen with you :o

AR: Yeah... :/ Why?

RA: No reason :) Keep him close, you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him B)

RA: hehehehehe

AR: :/ What? I keep him sitting on my head all day, I don't know how I can 'keep him close'r.

RA: Of course, of course :) Just remember he's a frail little bird who can get hurt QUITE easily BD

AR: ...dude don ta,k lik thjat

AR: Piggen is jus a bied, but i won'r ever let nayone hurtt him

RA: Hang on a second, let me decipher that :I

AR: I said 'Dude, don't talk like that! Piggen is just a bird, but I won't ever let anyone hurt him!'

AR: Never, ever ever evcerv efvetr everefv!

RA: Okay, okay :o

RA: Geez :/

AR: :/ Don't joke about Piggen, man. He's my best friend. :(

RA: What about me, Lu, and Mall :o

AR: You guys are my best HUMAN friends. :p

RA: Glad to know we weigh less in your mind than a BIRD 8/

AR: Damn straight. ;) Piggen is epic.

RA: lol XD

RA: Oh, at 6:00 can you message Niko and tell him to listen to me and install Sburb :3

AR: Huh? :/ You want Niko to download Sburb?

RA: Yes :) I think it would be fun :D

AR: Well... Okay? But why at 6?

RA: Just because :) 6:00 EXACTLY, if you can ^^

AR: Kay. :) I'll try my best.

RA: Thank you SO much :D ...Hey :)

RA: Have you got a server yet :o

AR: No, not yet- wait

AR: :D I got one! We're connecting!

AR: Talk to you later!

RA: Bye :D

AR: Bye!

- adroitRoyalty [AR] ceased pestering rejectedArtist [RP] at 17:53 -

RA: heh B)

666

The plan seems to be going well. Kirie is a naive idiot who is much to trusting, she seemed to fall for your 'goofy but intelligent' front you put up when talking to people not in The Family. She was also easily distracted, you could diverge her attention away when she got a bit too close to finding out something important.

Eva: Answer questions.

The ROM was a compilation of the Sburb Beta server and client disks that were released a few days ago. A technology savvy member of The Family had made the ROM and sent it you. After that, you sent it to the alien snake-thing. As per your instructions, he uploaded it onto a website along with a few ROMs of games you knew Kirie would like. Then, last night, you had talked to Kirie about a website that you had downloaded Super Mario Bros from. You made sure to push all her sentimental buttons so she would be hit with nostalgia and go download it herself. And, as fate would have it, she downloaded Sburb. Had she not, you would have sent her the files anyway. Then, after Kirie had downloaded it, she sent the file to her cousin in case he wanted to check it out.

Speaking of her cousin, it was about time you should message him.

Eva: Pester Niko.

(This was in the last chapter, so I'm not gonna copy/paste. :I)

Eva: Check time.

The time in the bottom corner of the computer screen is 5:59 (17:59). At this point Niko should be wondering what to do, then in a minute Kirie will pester him to install Sburb. She'd be wrapped up with her server, and not have much time to talk.

Eva: Communicate with Esset.

Your body stiffens into itself almost like rigor mortis. Then, the tension fades, and all your muscles relax as much as they can while your conscious self is thrown out into the spirit world. Your spirit is flying so fast that if you were in a solid body you would be burned to a crisp in an instant.

You find the large cobra with ease. Once you mentally connect with someone they are always linked to a corner of your mind. You like to call it a rope, you just give a tug if you want to go to someone and the 'rope' yanks you directly to them.

666

You invade Esset's mind and start a conversation.

"_Esset? How is your charge doing?"_

You feel the cobra buck under your mind. He must have gotten used to your presence, you HAD spent months of your free time teaching him about the human culture so he could pass his knowledge onto Cadeus.

"_**YOU! **What are you doing, I thought oncce Cadeuss sstarted you would **SSTAY OUT OF MY MIND!**"_

"_Well, I lied. Deal with it. I just wanted to check up on you while I waited on Niko."_

You drown out the angered hissing and control Esset's body, turning his large head so you can see his charge sitting at his computer. The troll is now clothed, compared to when she him floating in that weird container earlier. The troll boy is frowning and typing furiously. Suddenly, he starts laughing at something on his screen. You assume he is currently playing with Kirie.

666

"_**GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"**_

"_Chill Esset! Geez, you were never this strung up before."_

"_That'ss becausse I thought the ssooner I let you have your way the ssooner you would **LEAVE ME ALONE!"**_

"_Whatever."_

"_**ARGH! **__You jusst enjoy getting on my nervess, don't you?"_

"_I admit it is pretty fun."_

"_**SSSSSSSS! **__Jusst give me control of my body back!"_

"_Kay."_

666

With your influence over his actions gone, Esset leaves the cavern his charge is in. He slithers along until he comes to a large crack in the side of the wall. Esset then slides into the crack, which leads to a smaller cave. In the cave is a bunch of different things. On one wall a few staves are on hooks, and scattered around the room are various items of black and green clothing. Esset starts picking up these clothes, putting them into small bins.

666

As far as you can tell, the bins are arranged by color and type of clothing. There are ones for green shirts, black shirts, gre- OH GOD THIS IS BORING.

Suddenly you start seeing a blinking light in front of your vision. Your _actual_ vision, your solid eyes are seeing the light. You say a quick goodbye before slingshotting out of Esset's mind and back into your mind. No doubt you probably gave him a migraine by leaving his mind so abruptly, but that didn't really bother you,

Eva: Check blinking light.

You see that it is a new message alert. A message from N-i-k-o~.

Whenever Kirie introduced your group of friends to her cousin, you were absolutely smitten with the boy. The shy way he greeted you all, his quiet way of talking, all of it drew you in. That was mainly why you had integrated him into your game of Sburb. It was good that you had already decided that out of your three main friends Kirie would be the one to join you in the new universe.

666

When you were first taught about your role as heir, you were told you and the troll boy would be the only ones in your session. When you were older, you convinced The Family that it would be in everyone's best interest that you had a human companion in this new universe. Dozens of peoples' children were offered for the now sacred task of Heir's Companion. You turned them all down, instead saying that you would choose your own Companion. At first you wanted either of your childhood friends Lupita or Mallory, but a few years back you met Kirie and the two of you seemed to _connect._ And not only with the persona you put up, she managed to crack that and occasionally talk to your normal side. Not that she realized it, she just thought she was talking to you when you were depressed.

Eva: Answer Niko.

- reclusivePro [RP] began pestering rejectedArtist [RA] at 18:04 –

RP: eva, i downloaded Sburb

RA: Really :D That is great ^^

RP: ya, should i look for a server or client

RA: No no no :O I'm going to be your client, set your status to server :L

RP: kk

You quickly connect to Niko. The screen shows a [CONNECTING PLEASE WAIT] line of text before stating [CONNECTED].

RP: wut now

RA: Well.

RA: Now we shall play the game.

**Woo! :) How did y'all like that? I answered a bunch of questions you might have had. ^^**

**Questions:**

**Who do you want the next chapter to be about?**

**Niko (I won't continue with Eva for a few chapters.)**

**Kirie**

**Cadeus**

**And I need some help with some Sburb things:**

**1. What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**2. What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a **_**meaning. **_**I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**Bye~**


	7. DEVELOP

**GAH. I realize that I made a time line error back in Chapter 3. I said that it took Cadeus about twenty minutes to stretch out his muscles and learn how move again, however on my time line that wouldn't fit in anywhere. *headdesk* Here's what I have on my timeline concerning those points in time:**

K end installation, K search for server= 17:44

17:45 E pester K -17:53 End pester, K gets server C

**Basically, at 5:44 Kirie ended the installation and started her search for a server. Then at 5:45 Eva pesters Kirie, and at 5:53 Kirie ends the pester and gets Cadeus as a server. THAT'S A 9 MINUTE GAP. NOWHERE NEAR 20 MINUTES. *headdesk headdesk headdesk* T.T So, I would say it took about two minutes for Esset to wake Cadeus out of stasis mode (17:46), then about a minute for him to get up and confirm being Kirie's server (17:47), so I think him learning how to walk again and him getting dressed (plus Esset's monologue) would take about 3 minutes each (17:50 and then 17:53). **

**YEP. SO MUCH SENSE THIS IS MAKING. :I**

**I'm just going to retreat to the land of fail-authors. T.T Have fun reading the chapter... Especially with the really confusing appearance explanation. And the message boxes, I had a lot of fun typing those. XD**

…**.524 is a good number.**

**DEVELOP**

[DEVELOP]

777

You emerge back into your respiteblock to see your lusus deep in thought. You can see this because he is slowly being covered in the various snakes that wriggle about. You roll your eyes and start making your way over to him to help.

Along the way snakes scatter out of your way, they know that while you put up with them you don't care if you step on them. When you reach your custodian you start brushing the snakes off of him. Once you are done with the task Esset STILL doesn't move. You walk around to the front of his hood and stare into his reflective, glassy eyes.

777

In Esset's eyes you can see a shadowy image of yourself. Your dark rimmed, slit pupil-ed eyes , your shaggy black hair pushed slightly up with a wide green plaid bandana that is tied around your forehead, the long sleeved black shirt that goes down to your mid-thigh (with your symbol, a U with a squiggly line through it*, in your blood color, a medium green), and a pair of loose gray pants tucked into knee high black boots.

Cadeus: Get Esset's attention.

You do this by biting on a thinner side of his hood.

777

You feel Esset stiffen before you jump back and then flip back farther as he lunges for you angrily with his fangs dripping venom. Once he realizes it was you he lunges for you again, but this time he simply wraps himself lightly around you before nuzzling your cheek softly. You respond by grabbing his snout and hugging it. (AN: For a reference try to think of it like at the end of Spirited Away. :D)

Cadeus: Break heartwarming moment to check on computer.

You do so reluctantly. The computer screen shows a [CONNECTED] box as soon you sit down. Damn, you are just that awesome. The background of the CONNECTING screen is now completely purple, for some odd reason. You feel Esset sidle up next to you and as you watch the screen it slowly fades to black.

777

Then, it shows your normal green background along with a Trollian window. Another window pops up and inform you it is trying to receive video footage. Whatever that means.

Cadeus: Check Trollian.

Your trollTag is panaceaReptile. U ssspeak w/ a very pronounccced hissssss. 8:) Your sssmiliesss are vaguely sssnake-like. When you type it is a very chill pure green. (AN: For the hiss, each 's', 'x', 'z', or 'c' is copied three times . Examples: fox is foxxx, zebra is zzzebra, sand is sssand, and mace is maccce.)

For some reason, and you blame the snakes, you are signed in but invisible to your two troll friends. You fiddle around and can't seem to change that. It's alright though, you could still message them as invisible. You really don't see the point though, they're probably dead and never got signed out.

777

The window trying to get the video whatever suddenly flashes. You eagerly put it in full screen and watch as suddenly a troll...

Wait.

**WHAT.**

Cadeus: Flip the fuck out.

You see s_omething _in the window. It is vaguely troll-shaped, but it is PINK and it has no horns! And it's hair is a dark yellow color! And it's EYES, those piercing EYES, are white with a black circle in a larger blue circle in them! The _only _thing that is normal on the screen is the _thing's _small bird lusus perched its head. What the hell is this thing?

Esset: Calm your charge down.

You admit, the first time the human girl had shown you images via your mind of humans, you had also freaked out. But, Cadeus was simply wasting time with his unflattering sputtering questions. So, you simply leaned over him upside down until he could see your eyes and then you hypnotized him into being still.

With that done, you release your ward just as a message box pops up.

Cadeus and Esset: Stare at the computer in surprise.

-adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering panaceaReptile [PR] at 17:54 -

AR: Uh, hey? :/

Cadeus: Compose yourself enough to answer.

As you do so, Esset extends his mental powers to you and you hear his hissing voice saying he will explain everything as you type.

_'Sso try not to dissturb thiss... persson with too many sstrange questionss.' _

_'I'll try, Esssssset. I can't sssurely guarantee it, but I can sssure try.'_

_'Good. Make nicce with thiss human, Cadeuss.'_

_'...what'sss ahuman?'_

_'JUSST MESSSSAGE IT BACK **NOW.**'_

_'Okay! Geezzz!'_

777

PR: hello. 8:)

AR: Oh, um... Can you see me? :/

PR: yesss, i can sssee you. you look-

With a hard mental poke from Esset you type out:

niccce. 8:)

AR: ...Okay creepy guy. -.- You are a guy, right?

PR: asss far asss i can tell. and you?

AR: ….I thought you could see me. BI

PR: i can. i jussst can't sssee if you are a male or female. 8:I

AR: Oh, well I thought it was kind of obvious I was a girl. :/

AR: I've got really long hair, and not to be crass, but I have pretty large... uh... mammary glands. ./.

You have no idea what a mammary gland is, but if she's referring to the lumps on her chest you are kind of relieved. At least that part of anatomy carried over to this alien girl. (Esset's been slowly feeding your mind info while you've been typing.)

(AN: I'm not sure about troll anatomy, but I don't see any reason ((Besides the fact Andrew Husssie said it was so people could relate)) on why trolls have... boobs... ((I don't know why I get so embarrassed about talking about them ./.')) They don't need to nurse their young ((the prime reason for the chestal area...)), as trolls are born as grubs and eat... I dunno, probably each other. :/ ..Sorry for my little rant... Back to the chat.)

RP: lotsss of people have long hair. and i wasssn't really looking at your chessst.

AR: Oh. Well, that's a nice change. :) Thank you.

RP: no problem. i wasss more looking at your faccce, it'sss really weird. 8:)

AR: …...wat.

RP: i sssaid

AR: I KNOE WHST YOY SAID YPOU ASZXSXZHOLE!1

AR: WHJO ARE YOU TIO JUDEGE ME ON WHAT I LOOKLM LIKE I BETY YOU LOOK REALLY WEIR D YOY DANM HYPOCRITE!1!1

777

The next few lines of text are complete gibberish that look like somebody punched the keyboard of their computer instead of typing. You decide to let the human girl get her anger out before you talk to her again. You close you eyes and listen carefully to what Esset is saying.

_'Apparently they have a group of humanss that they interact with on a daily level. Ussually two lussii, a male called a 'dad' and a female called a 'mom', and ssometimess the 'dad' and 'mom' have more than one wriggler to take care of. SSometimess even more than two, though I'm not ssure how two lussii take care of more than one wriggler each. Oh, and the lussii and wrigglerss all sshare one hive.'_

_'That'sss really ssstrange. How do you know ssso much about thessse humansss?'_

_'…'_

_'Esssssset?'_

_**'Jusst go talk to the human girl. **Assk her name, be ssoccial.'_

"_Sssure, but you ssseem kind of depressssssed, do you wanna ssshare your feelingsss? I'll lisssten.'_

_'**NO. GO TALK TO THE HUMAN **_**NOW.'**

'_O-okay..'_

_777_

AR: NVNHJHBNBN HJ NBN HJ BJMVM , MGH.;'[ EMKN

PR: girl. 8:I

PR: im sssuper sssorry i made fun of your featuresss. it wasss exxxtremely insssensssitive of me.

PR: can i asssk for your forgivenesss? 8:(

AR: ….Sure. On one condition, you have to send me a picture of yourself. :)

You glance back at Esset. He is halfway across the room, currently coiling into himself.

PR: Sure. 8:)

** panaceaReptile sent adroitRoyalty the file 'me(.gif)' **

AR: ...dude

PR: yes? 8:/

AR: what

AR: the

AR: FUCK.

777

You burst out laughing, the human girl's face had first been very serious, but when she typed that last 'FUCK' her face had contorted into one of such confusion and horror you had to laugh. The lusus on her head was showing a disturbed face as best it could.

PR: hahaha! that faccce wasss hilariousss! 8:D

PR: do it again!

AR: ….Oh I get it. :/

PR: what'sss there to get?

You faintly hear Esset slither away.

AR: You're a photo manipulator, aren't? :|

PR: what? no, that'sss ssseriousssly what i really look like. 8:/

AR: Sure. -_- It couldn't have been that hard, part of that's probably makeup anyway.

PR: what no! i don't wear makeup! 8:o

AR: ...Listen to me, douchebag. I don't really care if you like to dress up, whatever floats your boat, but I DETEST liars. Now just drop the subject and let's figure out what we're supposed to do. :)

PR: i'm not... oh well, okay. 8:(

777

You flip back over to the Sburb window and see the human gir- wait a second.

PR: what isss your name? 8:o i never even asssked!

AR: That's right! :O ….Um... You first.

PR: heh heh. 8:) ssshy much?

AR: Shut up, dick! I just don't like giving my name out to strangers on the Internet! :I

PR: i'm not a ssstranger! i can sssee ALL of you! B:) even thossse mamariesss you were going on about.

AR: You...You fucking disgusting pervert!

AR: STOPL LOKKING AT MY CHJEST YOU SIVKOOM !

PR: sssivkoom?

AR: SICKO!

PR: maybe if you ssspent half asss much time asss you do yelling at your computer inssstead of typing properly then you could ssspell correctly. 8:p

AR: Shut up you dick!

PR: heh heh it'sss fun watching you yell at your computer while you type 8:)

AR: You... FUCK THIS.

AR: What was your earlier fucking question? :/

PR: what'sss your name?

AR: You first. :I

PR: the... wha? aw fuck it, i'm not going to go through that conversssation again. 8:I

PR: my name isss cadeusss penssser. 8:) and you?

AR: Is it Cadeusss Penssser or Cadeus Penser? :?

PR: the sssecond one. 8:) your name isss...?

AR: ….It's Kylie King. My friends call me Kirie.

PR: ...what'sss a friend? 8:/

AR: ….dude, I know you got some issues, but that's just sad. :/ Or is your lack of knowledge on friendship part of this stupid role-playing thing you do. I'm gonna assume it's roleplay, the whole dressing up thing might be part of it. Plus, your typing quirk of adding two 's's.

PR: 8:/ i don't roleplay. well, actually back a long time I did roleplay with thisss one girl. but I played a king cobra named Shaman Hannah Venomancy. 8:)

AR: ...Hannah? O-o

PR: yesss Hannah. 8:)

AR: ….were you a GIRL snake?

PR: uh no. 8:/ why would you think that?

AR: Oh, it's just... Hannah is not a boy's name. :/

(AN: Sorry! XD I had to! I do have a reason behind the name Hannah, though!)

PR: sure it isss! 8:/ it'sss a great boy'sss name!

AR: Whatever. ._.

777

You are so offended of her mocking the name Hannah you switch back to Sburb and see what you can do in revenge.

The top of the screen has many buttons on it, in order from left to right they are:

-A large mass of buttons for zooming in and out and moving the direction the camera (?) is facing.

-Select

-Revise

-Deploy

-Phernalia Registry

-Grist Cache

-Explore Atheneum

-Alchemy Excursus

777

The first four you can figure out, but once you get to Phernila whatsit you have to stop. All this is kind of confusing.

Cadeus: Select pillow.

You select the pillow and drop it on Kirie's head. The bird lusus squawks and flutters off to safety. Kirie flails about trying to protect herself from unseen attackers. You laugh as she tries to figure out what just happened when she suddenly gets a knowing look and turns back to her computer.

777

AR: Did you by any chance drop a pillow on my head? -_-

RP: psssh. of courssse not. B:)

AR: ...dick.

RP: let me figure out to work thisss thing. if you have to get hit ssseveral timesss by itemsss then ssso be it.

AR: What the fuck ever. :/

Cadeus: Select Kirie.

You try to pull her long hair but unfortunately you are unable to do so. She sends you an irritable look along with a muttered insult. The lusu flies back to its perch on her head. She then leaves her computer to pick up a small laptop (AN: No troll equivalent. :/ ) on a weird large cushiony thing before leaving her respiteblock. You wonder why she doesn't store it in her modus before you realize that maybe humans don't have modii. ...Psh, as if.

777

You yourself have the Ouroboros modus. It's kind of nifty, it allows you to get either the item you put in most recently or the item you put away the longest ago. The whole beginning is the end is the beginning is the end is kind of hard for you to wrap your head around sometimes.

Cadeus: Revise block.

You decide to mess around with her respiteblock before she comes back. You make one side of the wall (the one near the bigger cushiony thing and a structure that looks like it is used for storage) strech out a little bit. Then you Select the bigger cushiony thing and move it into the corner before doing the same with the other cushiony thing.

777

You smile in satisfaction, the floor space is a lot bigger now. Kirie enters the now improved block and glances around in confusion. She's holding a cord in one hand and the laptop in the other. She shakes her head, the bird lusus cawing at the movement, before going over to a wall outlet and plugging the laptop in. She then gets on the laptop and starts doing... something. You try to manipulate the viewer but you can't get it at the right angle to see the screen.

Cadeus: Open Phernalia Registry.

You do so and apparently you can lay down a Cruxtruder, Totem Lathe, and Alchemiter. With the room mostly cleared you do so, making sure not to cover the entrance Kirie came in. Kirie looks up in surprise after you almost drop the Cruxtruder on her foot. She folds her laptop up and puts it on the computer desk. She then starts messaging you once more.

777

AR: What are you doing? :/

RP: putting sssome ssstuff down. 8:)

AR: I can see that. You almost dropped one on my foot!

RP: sssorry. try to interact with the thingsss.

AR: ...Fine.

777

You check on the button called Grist Cache. Looking at it, you deduce that revising the room cost you some 'Build Grist'. You wonder where you can get more.

You notice Kirie is waving at you.

777

AR: Hey, I checked everything out. :/

RP: sssuper! what did you dissscover?

AR: Nothing. I don't think I can do anything with them yet. :/

RP: aw... 8:(

AR: Actually, one thing that might be able to be messed with is that thingy over there.

RP: ...thingy?

AR: The one with the wheel and the cylinder and the square base!

RP: oh do you mean the Cruxxxtruder?

AR: Hell if I know. Anyway, we gotta either turn the wheel or apply pressure to the top so it springs up.

RP: why don't you jump on it?

AR: …Because that's not enough force! Um... pick up the dresser and drop it on top of the Cruxxxtruder thing!

RP: ...what's a dresssssser?

AR: UGH! You!

AR: Here, let me indulge you in your sick fantasies and point out what a dresser is, EVFEN THOUGH YOUN KNOW WJAT ONR OIS!

RP: X:D you know, inssstead of typing why don't you jussst scream at me? you do it anyway.

AR: Shut up.

With that she leaves the computer and goes over to the storage device you saw earlier. She gestures very sarcastically at it, moving her arms around and framing it as if it were a display. You pick the dresser up and she backs away. Both you and her are watching in antici...

7

7

7

7

7

7

7

PATION for the dresser to be dropped. When you finally do drop it, the dresser springs right back into the air and the Cruxtruder emits a blinding series of purple and white lights. Kirie screeches and dives to the ground, half because of the lights and half because the dresser was about to hit her.

Cadeus: Check on Kirie.

She seems a bit shaken up, but otherwise unharmed.

777

Again, you both watch the Cruxtruder as a shining ball of elaborate white and purple spirals emerges from inside it. On the sides of the Cruxtruder previously blackened screens spark to life and show a countdown saying '5:24'.

777

You and Kirie wear identical (except for skin color, shape, and teeth size) faces of curiosity and horror.

What have you done?

***The sign of Ophiuchus. :3**

**Wow... That was a LONG chapter. Even longer than Chapter 1! This is 4,142 words long!**

**My fingers hurt, so review if you have any questions...**

**I will say, however, that I'm not going to really try to have Cadeus describe items that he doesn't know. Heck, maybe he does know some things, he IS a green blood. :p For a reference, he is higher on the hemospectrum than Nepeta but lower than Kanaya.**

**Him and Kirie have a sort of weird relationship right now. Will it develop into pure kismessitude, or will someone step in and austipicize (Spellcheck on both words. XD)? That, my dear reader(s?) is up to you. :3**

**Some more things up to you:**

**Questions:**

**1. What wordsss do you want Cadeusss to sssay? B:) I like usssing wordsss with lotsss of 's'sss ssso Cadeusss can sssay them with a hissssss.**

**2. Like how Homestuck first started out, send in titles for me to use. Example: 'Cadeus: Select cushiony thing.' I'll try to use all ones you send in, I mean I've got 2,166 words per average per chapter, so I think I can fit anything in, even if it's silly. ;) Of course, don't send me things like 'Fight an imp.' or 'Talk to Rose.'. I'm not at imps yet, and if I do ever write using a canon character I know I will fail miserably. ;-; That's why I stick to OCs. Plus, unless I had a good reason (*nudge nudge* Eva's spirit travels! ;D *shot*) I wouldn't write about it. ...And no, I will not use Eva to spirit travel and talk to Rose. Or anyone for that matter. ...or will I? *DUN DUN DUN***

**3. Who do you want the next chapter to be about?**

**Niko (I won't continue with Eva for a few chapters.)**

**Kirie (^ Same with Cadeus. Keep in mind, however, that it will only tell the events up to the end of this chapter, but just in Kirie's POV.)**

**I'm trying to get everyone to a point, and so far my goal is for everyone to get to the Kernel Sprite's (awakening? Revealing?). I won't continue with Eva for a few chapters because Chapters 4 and 6 were about her and I want everyone else to have two before we get into the threes (Cadeus doesn't count because he wasn't really in 2 and 3). This'll probably mean she'll be the last person to get to the goal. Poor Eva.**

**And I need some help with some Sburb things:**

**1. What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**2. What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a _meaning. _I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**Also, start sending in questions. Once I get everyone to the goal I'm going to have a question special! *sparkle* And if you don't send in questions I'll make 'em up. You can either question me, the author, about the story/characters (or about my personal life, I won't divulge anything TOO personal, though) or you can question my characters and I will write as them. -v- So, your questions can be serious or silly, it's all in good fun.**

**Bye y'all, I'm gonna go collapse on my couch. **


	8. WAIT

**Not much to say except for thank you Ziafna. ^^**

**WAIT**

[WAIT]

Kirie: Wait.

You glare at the laptop screen and will it to search faster. As far as you can tell, the screen ignores you.

Instead of searching faster, it pops up a window of Pesterchum. A message from your good friend Eva (rejectedArtist) is showing.

Kirie: Answer Eva.

- rejectedArtist [RA] began pestering adroitRoyalty [AR] at 17:45 -

RA: Kirie :) Hi ^^

AR: Hi Eva. :)

RA: What are you doing :)

You then proceed to have the rest of this conversation we already read in Chapter 6.

888

You wait with baited breath as they screen says [CONNECTING PLEASE WAIT].

And wait. And fucking WAIT.

888

There is no word strong enough to explain your frustration with your mini-laptop. You can forgive it being slow when you're just aimlessly searching around the Internet, but when you are playing a FUCKING AWESOME LOOKING game like this, you will not stand for it.

You do the unthinkable and start the shared computer your sisters use. The only times you've used it were when your laptop was at the repair shop to get rid of a virus and when you left your laptop at a friend's house. It starts up heavenly fast, compared to your laptop. When it's booted up you sign into Pesterchum (which of course was already downloaded by your sister long ago), and after making a note of the time (17:53), you realize less than a minute has gone by. FFFUCK, you hate waiting.

Niko: Continue pestering Eva.

RP: wut now

RA: Well.

RA: Now we shall play the game.

RP: ...

RP: i think thats the 1st time ive seen u use a period instead of a smilie

RA: Oh :o Well I was just excited ^^

RP: ….xcited?

RA: Yep :D

RA: Let's get this game started :)

RP: am i supposed to be getting a message that says its trying to receive video footage

RA: Yes :D That's normal :) Once it loads you should be able to see me ^^

RP: i can see you now

RA: Well how do I look :o

RP: uh, nice :/

RA: Nice? :?

RP: pretty?

RA: Oh thank you Niko ^/^

RP: no prob

You shiver, when you told her she was pretty she got a very happy and predatory smile. You were kind of regretting doing this game now, just talking to this girl across the Internet was okay, but now that you could see her creepy reactions to things you said it was borderline scary.

RP: where are you

RA: Hm :/ Oh, I'm at the library :)

RP: why

AR: Just because :3

Kirie: Message panaceaReptile.

-adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering panaceaReptile [PR] at 17:54 -

AR: Uh, hey? :/

It takes a while before PR starts messaging you back.

PR: hello. 8:)

AR: Oh, um... Can you see me? :/

PR: yesss, i can sssee you. you look niccce. 8:)

You then proceed to have the conversation we had back in Chapter 7.

Kirie: RAGE.

He said you looked weird! _Weird! _How dare he, it's not like you _asked _him to look at you! (AN: Technically she did, she was the one who searched for a server, i.e him.)

You gingerly touch your face with one hand as you type with the other. Your face wasn't weird, sure you weren't a perfect little beauty queen, but you did try to take care of yourself. Rage flares up in you once more and you practically punch the keyboard to spit abuse at the stupid boy.

888

AR: NVNHJHBNBN HJ NBN HJ BJMVM , MGH.;'[ EMKN

PR: girl. 8:I

PR: im sssuper sssorry i made fun of your featuresss. it wasss exxxtremely insssensssitive of me.

PR: can i asssk for your forgivenesss? 8:(

AR: ….Sure. On one condition, you have to send me a picture of yourself. :)

Niko: Deploy Cruxtruder.

Eva had been telling you about the game while you tried to figure things out. Instead of typing she just spoke the words aloud while she reclined in her seat. (AN: Alright, I am NOT 100% sure that the server has audio of the client. :/ I think so, but I'm not sure... That might be why the kids only communicated using Pesterchum, but then again I don't see any reason why it wouldn't have sound.)

"And see, the Cruxtruder is REALLY important. We get the Cruxite Dowels from it, and we'll also get the Kernelsprite! So be _very _careful with it. Put it in between the Alchemiter and Totem Lathe."

888

You try to listen to her, and you half do, but she spouts out nonsense and then doesn't explain it. You know the names of the three machines you just put down, but you have no idea what a Cruxite Dows is, and she only briefly explained that a Kernelsprite would help you.

"Niko, I'm going to need some help with opening the Cruxtruder. And when you see the numbers, know it's NOT a countdown, it is just telling us how long until... something happens."

Niko: Pester Eva.

That's it. You are going to get some answers, gosh darn it! Eva may think she's being clever with her vague information and her smugness at knowing things about this game, but she's really just making you MAD. High tempers seem to run in the family, though your temper is nowhere near being as explosive as your cousins'. You're actually surprised they lasted this long without killing each other.

888

RP: ok, i can put up with a lot of things, but you acting like you know everything is the most taxing, how do you even know so much, did you read a guide or something, if you did send me a link so i can be as knowledgeable as you

RA: Heehee :3 I didn't read a guide :) Don't worry, I'll explain everything once we get to the Medium ^^b

RP: whats the medium :/

RA: You'll see later ^^

RP: NO! Tell me now!

RA: Hehehe :) Sorry Niko, but we'll have a lot of time alone together in the future ^^

RP: ….Eva. I don't like you like that, I'm sorry. I know that you've been crushing on me for a long time, even before I started going out with Mallory. I just don't think it would work out.

RA: That's alright Niko, when your only choices are me or your cousin, I know you'll choose me ^^

That was probably one of the creepiest things she had ever said to you, and she had said some REALLY creepy things. Not to mention the cryptic tone of the message, you had a bad feeling about it.

You got a text from your mom on your iPod Touch's texting app so you decide to check that.

Kirie: Flip the fuck out.

What the hell? That guy had sent you a picture of himself, but he was gray and had fangs and horns and these penetrating snake like eyes! The sclera in them was just all yellow, and the pupils were mere slits! What was wrong with him?

AR: ...dude

PR: yes? 8:/

AR: what

AR: the

AR: FUCK.

PR: hahaha! that faccce wasss hilariousss! 8:D

PR: do it again!

AR: ….Oh I get it. :/

PR: what'sss there to get?

888

You tell him that yeah, he's sooo _clever _for editing a photo. He denies that he edited it, and when you say he wears makeup he denies it once more. You then shut him up by saying you hate liars before commanding him to start figuring this game out.

He then pisses you off once more, this time he was being a pervert and staring at your chest. After a good minute of ranting you stop, wasting time isn't helping you. Also, your pretty sure Cadeus (what he told you his name was, probably a fake name) is just doing it to rile you up. Asshole.

Cadeus then tells you about roleplaying with some girl and being a snake. Specifically a king cobra named something Hannah something. Weirdo.

Kirie: Flail.

You do so as a pillow came out of nowhere and fell onto your head. Poor Piggen almost had a heart attack, his fragile bird heart couldn't take surprises like that. After sure no one else is around you message Cadeus again.

AR: Did you by any chance drop a pillow on my head? -_-

RP: psssh. of courssse not. B:)

AR: ...dick.

RP: let me figure out to work thisss thing. if you have to get hit ssseveral timesss by itemsss then ssso be it.

AR: What the fuck ever. :/

He's such a dick.

888

You feel a weird pressure on your chest and realize Cadeus is probably dicking around with stuff again. This time, the stuff is you. (AN: I'm not sure if the clients in Sburb can see the cursor, but I'm going to guess not.) You glare off in one direction and hope shows on Cadeus's screen. You mutter out a curse before walking over to your laptop. It lies kind of forlornly on the bed, half open so it could make then connection between you and Cadeus. You check on it see the battery is low. Oh well, you can just go downstairs and get the charger.

Kirie: Get charger.

You foolishly leave your room to retrieve the charger. You don't think Cadeus could mess with you room _too _much.

Niko: Apply pressure to the lamp.

While we've been checking with Kirie, you and Eva have been messaging each other until you were both frustrated. You are frustrated with her not answering your questions and the news you got from your mom earlier, and she is frustrated you a_re _asking questions. After a bit of bickering ("Aw~ That was our first fight Niko!") Eva tells you that she has a plan to open the Cruxtruder. She's wedged the skinnier side of a floor lamp (after removing the lightbulb) under the part of of the cylinder that moves. She's now told you to move the lamp downwards in order to push the moving part up.

You apply pressure using select and are surprised when it seems the cursor is actually straining to force it open. You stand up and press down harder, trying to move it even more. Suddenly the force against you is gone and slip and crash face first into your monitor.

Niko: Lay dazed against the screen.

You would have done so if the screen hadn't suddenly shown a display of flashing yellow and white lights, causing you to stumble backwards into your chair.

888

Out of the Cruxtruder a mass of yellow and white swirls appear and you can faintly hear Eva gasping from delight or shock, probably both. The panels on the side of the Cruxtruder flicker and show '5:22' in yellow numbers. You see Eva stumble towards the Cruxtruder, intent on getting near the ball of swirls.

Kirie: Plug laptop in.

When you came back to the room you were surprised at the changes Cadeus had made, but you decided not to yell at him, you probably should have expected this. You plug your laptop in and curl around it, you don't want Cadeus snooping on you. Piggen shifts himself slightly on your head and you reach up and give him a hand-hug. He coos lightly and you smile down at your laptop.

Your smile disappears as you remember what happened while you were downstairs. Apparently one of the family friends was in the hospital so your family and your aunt, uncle, and cousins were all staying there to make sure they and their family were alright. Of course, your family couldn't come home get you or Niko, so they just called you (on your shitty ?-phone, which took 4 spins on your modus to get out) and told you to not wait up for them, go to bed at a reasonable time, stay out of your parents' room, etc. It really pissed you off they didn't even try to come and get you.

Kirie: Pester Eva.

You decide to pester your friend for comfort.

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering rejectedArtist [RA] at 18:10 -

AR: Eva... I have an a douche for a server! :/ And my family is a bunch of dicks...

RA: Oh Kirie :o I am sorry, I really do not have time for you right now :(

AR: What? What do you mean? :/

RA: I mean me and Niko are playing right now, message me back at around nine :)

AR: Nine? D: That's three hours away! Why do I have to wait that long?

RA: Yes :) Try not to do anything stupid in between now and then, and DO NOT prototype your Kernelsprite until later :| Also, connect to Niko at around 7:00 and become his server :D Bye ^^

- rejectedArtist [RA] ceased pestering adroitRoyalty [AR] at 18:11 -

AR: Eva?

888

You are about to message her back when a loud _whump _next to your left foot surprises you. It looks like Cadeus is putting shit down.

Kirie: Message Cadeus.

You fold your laptop up before going to the computer.

AR: What are you doing? :/

RP: putting sssome ssstuff down. 8:)

AR: I can see that. You almost dropped one on my foot!

RP: sssorry. try to interact with the thingsss.

AR: ...Fine.

888

That was fairly docile of you, and it's only because you're so confused.

Kirie: Check this shit out.

There's three machine looking things around the room. You go over to each one, turn some wheels, push some levers, and crank some knobs but nothing seems to happen. Slightly disappointed you go back to the computer and wave.

888

AR: Hey, I checked everything out. :/

RP: sssuper! what did you dissscover?

AR: Nothing. I don't think I can do anything with them yet. :/

You and Cadeus express your disappointment before you tell him how you noticed one of the machines looks movable. You tell him to drop the dresser on it, and when he starts his stupid 'what's that?' routine you just sigh and go along with it. ...After a well deserved rage, of course.

You then go over to the dresser and point it out over dramatically. You move backwards when he picks it up and wait with impatiently as he inches it closer.

Kirie: Shriek and dive to safety.

Right after Cadeus drops the dresser on top of the Cruxtruder the dresser rebounds towards you in an explosion of light. You jump hurriedly out of it's way and plaster yourself to the floor, shaking. You have your hands held tightly (but not too tight!) around Piggen in an effort to hold him safely.

888

After making sure it is safe you turn yourself until you are facing the Cruxtruder and see a beautiful ball of pretty purple and white spirals. It floats steadily above the Cruxtruder and for a moment you don't even notice the numbers now displayed on the Cruxtruder:

'5:24'

888

5 hours 24 minutes or 5 minutes 24 seconds. After watching the number you figure out it is the former. You wonder a bit worriedly and curiously what this means.

**A bit of an abrupt end. :(**

**Part of the timeline for this chapter, in case you got confused:**

18:10 K pesters E, -18:11 End pester

18:14 K deploys Sprite

18:16 E deploys Sprite

**Eva got her Sprite (awakened? unleashed?) earlier in this chapter, but she actually released hers 2 minutes after Kirie released hers. :) A bit confusing, but just know that in dual character chapters like this that one person's events won't be in the same time frame as the other person's events. **

**Like in the actual webcomic, I'll be showing what events happen for each person from their point of view (with some parts left out that are small enough they don't need to be told twice). Like, when it showed us Dave for the for the first time and we got to see his conversation with John through his POV, even though we had already seen it in John's POV. …I'm going to skip to questions...**

**Questions:**

**1. What wordsss do you want Cadeusss to sssay? B:) I like usssing wordsss with lotsss of 's'sss ssso Cadeusss can sssay them with a hissssss.**

**2. Like how Homestuck first started out, send in titles for me to use. Example: 'Cadeus: Select cushiony thing.' I'll try to use all ones you send in, I mean I've got 2,166 words per average per chapter, so I think I can fit anything in, even if it's silly. ;) Of course, don't send me things like 'Fight an imp.' or 'Talk to Rose.'. I'm not at imps yet, and if I do ever write using a canon character I know I will fail miserably. ;-; That's why I stick to OCs. Plus, unless I had a good reason (*nudge nudge* Eva's spirit travels! ;D *shot*) I wouldn't write about it. ...And no, I will not use Eva to spirit travel and talk to Rose. Or anyone for that matter. ...or will I? *DUN DUN DUN***

** do you want the next chapter to be about?**

**1 Eva**

**2 Eva**

**3 Eva**

**4 Eva**

**(Tough choice there, huh?)**

**What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a _meaning. _I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**And, do you want Cadeus and Kirie to end up as kismesis, or do you want Niko to step in and auspisticize between them? (I can't really see Eva doing that. ._.)**

**And for the romance matter, do you want Eva to get her wish and Niko learns to love her, or do you want Niko to not fall in love with her and they end up as _just friends?_**

**Also, start sending in questions. Once I get everyone to the goal I'm going to have a question special! *sparkle* And if you don't send in questions I'll make 'em up. You can either question me, the author, about the story/characters (or about my personal life, I won't divulge anything TOO personal, though) or you can question my characters and I will write as them. -v- So, your questions can be serious or silly, it's all in good fun.**

**I guess Chapter 10 will be the Question Speshul. -v- That worked out well!**

**I think that's about it. (FINALLY. -_-)**

**Bye. :) Reviews make me happy~**


	9. QUESTION

**This chapter is a bit short, but whatever. It's got a long Author's Note at the end. :p This chapter also delves a bit into Kirie and Eva's relationship.**

**Also, this story got FANART. By the wonderful Ziafna! :) I'll put a link in my profile so you can all see.**

**QUESTION**

[QUESTION]

999

RP: ...

RP: i think thats the 1st time ive seen u use a period instead of a smilie

RA: Oh :o Well I was just excited ^^

RP: ….xcited?

RA: Yep :D

RA: Let's get this game started :)

You then continue to have the conversation you and Niko had in Chapter 8.

999

Niko continues to pester you with questions on your current location, but you ignore his questions and instead start talking to him out loud.

"Niko? Come in Niiiiko!"

RP: eva, I can hear you :/

"Excellent!"

Eva: Vaguely explain Sburb.

You start to tell him all that the universe has whispered to you (you make a mental note to write that down, it sounded good) while giving him commands on what to do with the room. You sprawl out in the chair, it's hard being you, but someone's got to do it.

Eva: Answer Niko.

You decide to be a bit more helpful and pester him.

RP: ok, i can put up with a lot of things, but you acting like you know everything is the most taxing, how do you even know so much, did you read a guide or something, if you did send me a link so i can be as knowledgeable as you

RA: Heehee :3 I didn't read a guide :) Don't worry, I'll explain everything once we get to the Medium ^^b

You then proceed to have the rest of the conversation from Chapter 8.

999

Niko just doesn't seem to get that he is destined to love you. Sure,you haven't told him that, but that was his own fault! He should just know, lots of love stories are like that!

Eva: Argue with Niko.

He just can't seem to drop it! You try to get him back on task, but then he just starts going on and on about stupid things like "_you never listen to me when I ask questions!" _or "_why cant you just tell me NOW" _and the ever popular "_stop saying were meant for each other, its creeping me out!". _

Really, he could be a BIT more appreciative, you were trying to help him out, and Kirie and the alien boy were left to figure things out on their own.

Eva: Answer Kirie.

Your computer tells you she's tried to message you.

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering rejectedArtist [RA] at 18:10 -

AR: Eva... I have an a douche for a server! :/ And my family is a bunch of dicks...

RA: Oh Kirie :o I am sorry, I really do not have time for you right now :(

999

There was another question, "_why aren't you helping Kirie" _that made you kind of...remorseful? Anyway, whenever Niko asked you that you just told him to shut up instead of the usual dodging the question. Kirie was your friend, and it kind of sucked that you couldn't play together yet. And you wouldn't even get to be her client or server! Life was haaard, your one true love is getting mad at you and you can't talk to your best(?) friend...

Eva: Ponder question mark.

You never really thought of it, but you realize that calling her your best friend might be a bit of a stretch. You and Kirie had two other close friends, and instead of saying a certain person was your best friend you said the group was your 'best friends'. Kirie was sort of annoying, she had a wicked temper, and she needed reassurance on her friends being there (one of her greatest fears was being left alone). You, whenever you're was in your school persona, tried to be as patient as you could, but you frequently got mad at Kirie's childish antics.

Then you remember the times you and Kirie had stayed up late texting each other, even though Kirie always got caught because her phone made too much noise. Kirie also calmed you down on the phone when you were upset, even though she hated talking on the phone and was terrible at comforting people. You remember when she went on vacation and spent more money on souvenirs for you and your two friends than she did on herself. Kirie could be an angry little bitch sometimes, but other times she was the sweetest friend you could imagine.

Niko: Interrupt line of thought.

Eva's just been sitting in her chair making irritable and happy noises. You pester her to get her attention.

RP: eva, what are you doing

"Nothing Niko, just thinking... *cough* Oh yeah! Um, let me do something, and then follow my orders!

Eva: Grab floor lamp.

You walk over to where a floor lamp is and drag it towards the Cruxtruder. You then take off the lampshade and unscrew the light before turning the wheel as far as it will go and jamming the narrow part of the lamp into the space.

"Now push down on this lamp! Don't question me, just do it!"

You watch as the floor lamp seemingly starts straining against thin air. After a quick battle of force the top of the Cruxtruder comes off amongst dazzling light. You look down at the floor and patiently wait for the lights to fade. As they do, a ball of yellow and white spirals floats gently out. You gasp, this was the important part of the beginning, now you and supposedly Kirie had awoken your Kernelsprites and it showed how long you guys had left (for you 5:22). You had to enter the Medium as fast as you could, and you needed to connect to Niko and the alien first.

Eva: Look at Kernelsprite.

You walk over to it, slightly stumbling from eagerness. The orb just bobbed at about head height and you knew you shouldn't touch it but it was _so pretty! _ Thankfully you stop yourself from touching it, you're not sure what it might do. You distract yourself by asking Niko one of the questions that's been weighing on your mind.

"Hey Niko! What's the most non-threatening thing you can think of?"

**I had a weird, two-part dream about Homestuck. I either had it last night and the night before, or the night before and then the next morning after I woke up and then fell asleep and rewoke at 5 PM (17:00). XD It was pretty weird...**

**I'm pretty sure it was about my OCs, I didn't check but I just had a feeling. Anyway, I was either Eva or Kirie, I had a feeling I was playing as Kirie, but I was also her sever. :/ And, the weird thing was I didn't know anything about my Sylladex. In it all I had were these two weird jellyfish-robot things, that were about the size of the house. I didn't know anything about them, and I was scared of letting them out because I thought they were violent. And, the dream also switched back and forth from being about Homestuck to being about an old man and his fight against zombies that had something to do with blood and I DON'T EVEN KNOW. **

**Back to the point, the whole first half of the dream I didn't know what to do with these jellyfish, and apparently while 'I' (Kirie) was off fighting some kind of boss with Niko, 'I' (Kirie) was also trying to figure out the jellyfish. I eventually gave in and set them out, but quickly discovered that I couldn't put them back in my sylladex. This was apparently a problem, it seems 'I' had grown a heart and decided that I wouldn't let innocent people die from the vicious jellyfish, which kind of just floated around docilely.**

**In between the first and second parts it seems Ra, yes _Ra_, the Egyptian god, had joined me and Niko in fighting the boss (which I have no clue what it looked like). There was a list of about six fighters or players that the only ones I remember are Niko, Kirie (Kirie), and Kirie (Ra). I don't know if that means I summoned him or just controlled him, but I still think it was pretty awesome.**

**And the last part of the dream I realized that one of the jellyfish was my actual sylladex, I dragged the other jellyfish (with my cursor) over to it and it captchalogued it. And for some reason I had a magic wand (the kind with the stars on top) that I captchalogued as well. Back with Fighter Kirie, she seemed to be outmatched with the boss. She needed a stronger weapon, so she called me, _Other _Kirie to make her a better weapon. The last thing I remember before waking up is alchemizing Ra (yes, FUCKING RA) and the magic wand together with a bright light and me thinking "_Oh wait, there's already a character who uses wands..._" before I woke up. At the time I was thinking Rose, but now I realize I meant Eridan. **

…**...I really wish I got to see what my mind designed for a combination of Ra and a magic wand. Here's hoping to a Dream: Part 3!**

**Questions:**

**1. What wordsss do you want Cadeusss to sssay? B:) I like usssing wordsss with lotsss of 's'sss ssso Cadeusss can sssay them with a hissssss.**

** how Homestuck first started out, send in titles for me to use. Example: 'Cadeus: Select cushiony thing.' I'll try to use all ones you send in, I mean I've got 2,166 words per average per chapter, so I think I can fit anything in, even if it's silly. ;) Of course, don't send me things like 'Fight an imp.' or 'Talk to Rose.'. I'm not at imps yet, and if I do ever write using a canon character I know I will fail miserably. ;-; That's why I stick to OCs. Plus, unless I had a good reason (*nudge nudge* Eva's spirit travels! ;D *shot*) I wouldn't write about it. ...And no, I will not use Eva to spirit travel and talk to Rose. Or anyone for that matter. ...or will I? *DUN DUN DUN***

**And I need some help with some Sburb things:**

**What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a _meaning. _I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**And, do you want Cadeus and Kirie to end up as kismesis, or do you want Niko to step in and auspisticize between them? (I can't really see Eva doing that. ._.)**

**And for the romance matter, do you want Eva to get her wish and Niko learns to love her, or do you want Niko to not fall in love with her and they end up as _just friends?_**

**Next chapter is the Question Special, so expect it to take a few days to update.**

**Bye~**


	10. Q and A

**:D Guess what time it is.**

**It's-**

**QUESTION AND ANSWER TIME! *applause* Thank you, thank you, you're too kind. ;)**

**The checkpoint for this first part was Kirie and Eva awakening their Kernelsprites. **

**Now, I only got one question from an actual reviewer (my ONLY reviewer), but, meh, I can think of ones on my own. C:**

**It doesn't really bother me that I don't get a lot of reviews. I'm writing this story for myself, also, and I give myself enough praise/criticism. But, I do like actually talking (typing) to either people for a change. ...I just depressed myself with how lonely I am. ;_; I'm going to text a friend... brb.**

**I'm back, waiting on replies. :V ...*giggle***

**Well, I'm happier now, so let's move on to the first and only reviewer question! (Author's Notes and Questions in Bold)**

**1. Ziafna: "****How did Eva and Kirie meet? :D"**

It's simple: at school.

…._Alright_:

Kirie had just moved to the town Eva lives at. This town is only a town away from the town Niko lives in. (**AN: That's an overload of the word 'town'. :/)** Eva and her were both in the 5th grade.

At the time, Eva had two friends, Mallory and Lupita (they've been mentioned before), who she hung out with. She didn't need a lot of friends, and actually resented most of the kids at their school. **(AN: Next part is written like a normal story, just 'cause it's easier that way.)**

"Eva! Look at that girl's backpack!" Eva glanced up from her book she was reading. "Huh?" Mallory huffed at her before grinning and pointing excitedly off to Eva's left. "Looky! She has a** *insert anime here*** backpack!"

"The chick with the blond ponytail," Lupita elaborated for Eva. "She's wandering around, vaguely lost puppy like." Eva, by this point, had lost interest and returned to her book. "I'm going to talk to her! Wish me luck~," Mallory ran off, intent on interrogating the girl.

Lu leaned over to Eva and stage whispered,"I think she's going to drag her over here. She's too friendly- Oh look, here she comes." True to Lupita's word, Mallory had grabbed the girl and was pulling her towards their table. "Guys! This is Kylie! She's new, SUPER new, she only started school today!"

Lupita and Eva scanned the girl whose arm was firmly held by Mallory. She was a blonde, whose hair reached her shoulders in a ponytail. The girl- Kylie- had on a purple sweater with a yellow crown emblem that slightly overlapped her jean shorts. She was looking back at them with nervous purple eyes, biting her chapped lips. In her hands she had a paper bird that she constantly fiddled with.

"Uh.. hey?"

Lupita and Eva exchanged looks. 'Hey,' 'Hello,' they both said respectively. Kylie gave a teensy smile and accepted Mallory's offer to sit with them.

And that's how they met. How they became friends, however, is a longer story. They didn't simply 'connect' like Eva said in Chapter 6, and in Chapter 9 she even questions their friendship. Anyway, it took Kirie months to finally get Eva to talk to her. Like I said before, Eva thought two friends was enough. But, after Kirie finally found a topic the two could discuss, Eva found that Kirie could be a nice person to talk to. They then figured out that the two of them had a lot of the same interests and they became great friends, fully integrating Kirie into the group of friends. C:

**2. Where does 'Kirie' (the nickname) come from?**

Fatal Frame. :/ The group of friends played the game together (they really shouldn't have, it freaked them out) and Lupita gave her the nickname stating, "They're both annoying, they're both loud, they both get mad at you for no apparent reason, and they both piss me off." (Lupita and Kirie have a love/hate relationship.)

Though these are kind of bad things to associate a friend with, the other two in the group agreed, as the name would be a reminder of the good (and bad...) memories they had playing the game. Kirie didn't have many complaints, she liked the game's Kirie.

**3. How are Kirie and Niko related?**

They're cousins, Kirie's mother's brother is Niko's dad. That's why they have different last names.

**4. Will so-and-so (ex: Mallory, Lupita, Kirie's sisters) be in the story?**

If they aren't playing Sburb, they gonna die. ...Though I dunno, I'm not sure what would happen if someone was in a player's house when they went into The Medium. John's dad was there, he just got captured by imps. … :( Damn, it would have been fun to have one of the player's family members with them. It's too bad I made sure that they would have an excuse for being out of the house...

**5. What's up with Piggen (Kirie's pigeon)?**

Kirie's always loved birds, and as unlikely as it seems she managed to tame one of the pigeons in her attic. She's kept him for around a year and a half. ...Not much to say, he's her loyal pet that perches on her head, because he's WAY too cool to perch on a shoulder.

**6. Why is Cadeus still alive?**

Already explained, Esset used his venom to put Cadeus in a state of stasis, let me get that definition again:

'the state of equilibrium or inactivity caused by opposing equal forces'

The toxicity of Esset's venom kept the Vast Glub from reaching Cadeus.

**7. How is Esset still alive?**

FFF, Okay, this is where I screwed up. I thought that back when it showed us Sollux (ilu Sollux!) after the Glub his bees were still flying around, but after I looked back it turns out the bees were dead too and only Sollux's Sprite (Bicyclopsprite?) was alive. So... ignore my canon breaking, as Esset and the snakes are still alive. Esset I might be able to bullshit, say that since bicyclopsprite was a lusus all lusii were immune to the Glub, but with the snakes there's no excuse for them. :( Fail author time...

**...Well, it's late night, so I'm going to go to sleep now. -v- I'll come back in the morning.**

**...Or early afternoon, whatever. **

**8. Why does Eva know so much? She's just a plot device, isn't she?**

Hrngh! That is my noise of 'I HAVE A REASON!'. :/

See, in every session so far they've had a character that's known more than the others. In the kids', there's Jade. In the trolls', there's (ghost) Aradia and to some extent Sollux. So, following this logic, I made an all-knowing character. Eva doesn't know EVERYTHING, as we will see later on. Right now she's just a kid who _thinks _she knows everything.

**9. All your characters are recluses: Kirie stays in her house except for school, Cadeus apparently lives underground and doesn't get out much, Eva seems to be wrapped up in her duty as 'The Heir', and Niko... reclusivePro. I state my case.**

FFFF, I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO WORK OUT LIKE THAT! …oh, caps lock was on. ._. sorry. Anyway, when I had six OCs, Eva was a lot different, and the other two were outgoing and such.

**10. ...Why 'Homestart'?**

I wanted it to kind of parallel 'Homestuck', plus, this story is about my characters opening up and such and 'starting' their lives.

**Questions for the characters:**

**Group: (Order: Kirie, Cadeus, Eva, Niko)**

**1. What's your favorite color?**

"Purple. :) I mentioned it before."

"green. itsss a pretty cool color. 8:)"

"Black and white :D Like a chessboard ^^"

"uh, i don't really care for colors very much, but i'd have to say brown"

**(note: That's also the color they type in ((Eva types in black)) and their eye color, 'cept for Cadeus cause he has troll eyes. -v- think I mentioned it with everyone but Niko. And for reference: Kirie's text is a few shades lighter than Eridan's, and Cadeus's is a bit darker than Jade's. Not as bright.)**

**2. What do you think of everyone?**

"Well, Cadeus is a dick, but Eva is one of my best friends and Niko is my favorite cousin. :)"

"...uh, everyone? I've only talked to the stupid pink girl, so i don't know anyone else. 8:/"

"Kirie is my best friend :D And Niko is... B'3 Well, he is nothing YET ^^ As for the alien boy, eh, I am not too impressed -_-"

"ky is my cousin, we're close c: eva is... scary" **(Knows nothing about Cadeus)**

**3. What would you do if you met everyone in real life?**

"Uh, hang out? :/ We do that anyway. AND IF I MET THAT PRICK IN REAL LIFE I'D PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE!" **(Feel happy, I didn't do her usual quirk.)**

"if i met that alien girl in real life i'd tell esssssset to eat her. B:)" (Esset note: "Which of coursse I wouldn't!")

"Me and Niko would have a date irl :D Though, he would not know it was a date B( I guess me and Kirie would just sit and talk, like we usually do ^^ And with the alien boy, I would slap him, because Kirie does not seem to like him :V"

"uh, if i met eva irl i would just run :/ and me and ky would take a walk while we talked"

**4. What do you think of the events since you started Sburb/woke up?**

"Uh, well, it's pretty cool. Except for the whole 'I have a douche for a server thing'. :/"

"8:D it'sss FANTASSSTIC! i mean, i haven't been awake for who knowsss how long, and ssso far i've had tonsss of fun bothering the human. ssshe'sss really fun to pessster. ...i'm ssstill hoping for a party, though. 8:("

"It has been sort of frustrating -_- Niko asks a LOT of questions, I can not talk to Kirie, and really what I want to do is curl up in this big chair and doodle :( Other than that, it is really fun :D"

"it hasn't been very fun :/ eva creeps me out, and she wont answer my questions, she just keeps giving me commands that i half understand, and then doesnt help when i ask for her assistance"

**5. Everyone's age and birthdays? (:/ I have it up on my profile, too.) Exact as possible?**

"June 13th. **(I made her share my birthday. C:)** Uh... 14 and ….9 months... So 14 and 3 fourths."

"c:8 6 and half sssweepsss! **(Did the math, he's 14.3) a**nd i don't know what a 'birthday' isss."

"July 5th. 14 and 8 months :) Sooo, 14 and two thirds ^^"

"Nov 2nd, 15 and 5 months"

**Uh... more calculations... Cadeus would be about 14 and 4 and a half months, making him about 14 and a third. ...C: He's the baby.**

**Questions for individuals:**

**Kirie:**

**1. Gurrrl, why you so angry?**

"I'm not always angry, honest! :( I've just been under a lot of pressure lately, and now Cadeus is just pissing me off!" **(Trust me, once they get to The Medium you'll see a softer side of Kirie. She's just ****really mad right now, Cadeus paired with her parents leaving her ALONE equals a very unbalanced Kirie.)**

**2. Why are you scared of being alone?**

"Th-there's no REAL reason... I just don't like it. :( You aren't really safe when you're alone."

**3. So... what do you think of Mr. Penser?**

"I think he's a freak. Seriously, I don't know how, but he gets his kicks from photo-editing and roleplaying. ...and making rude comments about young girls. :["

**4. You like birds?**

"No. I LOVE THEM! I kind of wish I could fly, too. :) My mom's always like 'gah, they carry disease and pestilence' and I'm like 'THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL YOU SHUT UP!' and then I get grounded. :/ But yeah, I love my bird. :3 Piggen is the best bird EVER." **(Good Piggen. Best Friend. C:)**

**5. ...why the name Piggen?**

"*shrug* Dunno, it's just what me and my friends named him. ...He's a white pigeon, yes, they DO exist, and he's not albino. **(source: birds dot cornell ((dot (edu))** :D Pigeon Funfacts! :

**White "color:"** White feathers are actually feathers that have no color pigments. So, when you see white on pigeons you are actually seeing _no_ color.

**Eyesight:** Pigeon eyesight is excellent. Like humans, pigeons can see color, but they also can see ultraviolet light—part of the light spectrum that humans can't see. Pigeons are sometimes used in human search-and-rescue missions because of their exceptional vision.

**Hearing:** Pigeons can hear sounds at much lower frequencies than humans can, such as wind blowing across buildings and mountains, distant thunderstorms, and even far-away volcanoes. Sensitive hearing may explain why pigeons sometimes fly away for no apparent reason: maybe they heard something you can't.

****Locomotion:** **On the ground, pigeons don't hop the way many birds do. They walk or run with their heads bobbing back and forth. Pigeons are strong fliers and can fly up to 40 or 50 miles per hour. Some pigeons are raised for their exceptional abilities to fly fast and find their ways home. These pigeons may fly as far as 600 miles in a day. Although feral pigeons are good fliers too, most of these birds seem to stay close to their regular feeding sites**. **

**Intelligence: **Pigeons are considered to be one of the most intelligent birds on the planet, with pigeons being able to undertake tasks previously thought to be the sole preserve of humans and primates. The pigeon has also been found to pass the 'mirror test' (being able to recognise its reflection in a mirror) and is one of only 6 species, and the only non-mammal, that has this ability. The pigeon can also recognize all 26 letters of the English language as well as being able to conceptualise. In scientific tests pigeons have been found to be able to differentiate between photographs and even differentiate between two different human beings in a photograph when rewarded with food for doing so. **end funfacts**

Why he's stayed with me so long is a mystery, I would say 'BOND OF FRIENDSHIP~~~', but birds don't really work like that. :c He's not a fancy pigeon, the pet kind, he was a feral one. Maybe he likes me because I feed him and shelter him, but I know he likes me at least a little bit. That's why he perches on my head and let's me pet him. ^v^"

**Cadeus:**

**1. Do you think you and Kirie's relationship will ever shift to kismessitude?**

"8:O *blushesss* wh-WHAT? no, no, uh... maybe? uh... I don't think I hate her _that _ssstrongly. and I doubt ssshe hatesss me that much either. we're jussst.. rivalsss. plusss, to be kisssmesssisss we have to be attracted to each other, and if you can't tell I think ssshe looksss funny. X:D and, ssshe ssseemsss to think I edited that picture of myssself, ssso I doubt ssshe'sss attracted to me. not to mention I hardly think 6 sssweepsss isss old enough for a proper kisssmessssssitude."

**2. What did you do back on Alternia?**

"...what do you mean 'back on'? 8:) i'm ssstill there, dummy! Anyway, I messssssed around on the computer, meditated, honed my psssychic abilitiesss **(not like Sollux's or Aradia's, more like Vriska's with the mind control)**, and occasssionally role-played with thisss niccce chick Nepeta. 8:( I kind of miss her, she wasss goofy but lotsss of fun.

R.I.P.- The Pouncellor :33 **(I hate you for not letting me use arrows, FFN!)**

8':("

**3. Did you have any friends on Alternia?**

"besssidesss Nepeta, not really. i did hang out with thisss girl Kanaya onccce, ssshe gave me my headana **(His headband bandana) **in exxxchange for sssome sssnake ssskinsss."

**4. Are you going to talk to your friends again?**

"...WELL, since they're **DEAD **i can't really, now can i? B:[" **(he has no idea the trolls are still alive, and hey, that was his first typing slip up!)**

"nexxxt quessstion pleassse. B:["

**5. Why didn't you try to save/tell anyone about the Vast Glub?**

"...i've made a lot of mistakes in my life."

**Eva:**

**1. Why do you like Niko so much?**

"It was love at first sight ^/^ I can't help who I fall in love with :3"

**2. How do you know so much?**

"Because :I I already explained it, I leave my body and use my spirit to travel across space and time :D I looked at other people's sessions to see what they did wrong and then I made a (mental) list of things not to do ^^ I even looked ahead in our session, but not TOO far, I like surprises :3"

**3. Will you tell us what's going to happen?**

"Nope :D You are just going to have to read to find out ;) Eventually I will tell the others some of the things I know, but for now I will let them figure it out ^^ ….I have my reasons for not telling them."

**(No she doesn't. :/)**

**4. Your chumhandle is rejectedArtist. Explain?**

"Oh... :( I made that account after Niko started going out with Mall ): I was rejected, and I am an artist :c ...I like drawing a lot :)" **(He didn't literally reject her, he just didn't know of her feelings and dated another girl. :/)**

**5. You can use knives?**

"Yep :D Ever since I was real little and I got my first pocky-knife ^^" **(...I don't think you need me to tell you she means pocket-knife) **

**Niko: **

**1. Why don't you like Eva?**

"she creeps me out o_o she's always talking about how we're meant to be together, and i don't like her personality"

**2. You play guitar?**

"and drums and piano c: i taught myself the drums (with help from the Internet), my mom taught me the piano, and my dad taught me guitar, I really like playing instruments, its fun"

**3. There was something about a therapist earlier?**

"...my moms just paranoid"

Kirie: "Niko! Be honest! B("

"...fine, back like... 3 months ago, I kinda... slit my wrists and had to go to the hospital"

Kirie: "...Tell them them **why**."

"...because my girlfriend was going to break up with me"

Kirie: "Tell them what you did."

"...i took a picture of my wrists and sent it too my girlfriend, then begged her not to break up with me"

Kirie: "And she didn't, at least not until last weekend when she announced she was a lesbian and had been dating some girl for the past three months."

"...and you knew"

Kirie: "...I _did _try to tell you...We were just worried about how you would react."

"whatever, i'm so over her now, you don't have to worry about me offing myself, next question!"

**4. Er... tell us about your last girlfriend.**

"...all of my hate, ALL OF IT, grr, fine, her name was Mallory, she was **(is)** one of ky's friends, she introduced us"

"we had been dating for a year and a half and last weekend she told me she liked girls and had been going out with one named jennifer or something"

**5. Y U SO SKINNY?**

"i have a fast metabolism, i'm 106 lbs* just so you know"

***I know a 15 year old boy who weighs that much! o_o Frickin' skinny.**

**...I think that's about it! ^^ ...Altogether: 35 questions. (10 author, 5 group, and 5 for each character)**

**The next checkpoint is either after Niko and Cadeus awaken their Sprites or after everyone enters the Medium.**

**Questions: (There's a new question! :D)**

**1. Who do you want to see next?**

**Kirie?**

**Cadeus?**

**Eva?**

**Niko?**

**2. What wordsss do you want Cadeusss to sssay? B:) I like usssing wordsss with lotsss of 's'sss ssso Cadeusss can sssay them with a hissssss.**

**3. Like how Homestuck first started out, send in titles for me to use. Example: 'Cadeus: Select cushiony thing.' I'll try to use all ones you send in, I mean I've got 2,166 words per average per chapter, so I think I can fit anything in, even if it's silly. ;) Of course, don't send me things like 'Fight an imp.' or 'Talk to Rose.'. I'm not at imps yet, and if I do ever write using a canon character I know I will fail miserably. ;-; That's why I stick to OCs. Plus, unless I had a good reason (*nudge nudge* Eva's spirit travels! ;D *shot*) I wouldn't write about it. ...And no, I will not use Eva to spirit travel and talk to Rose. Or anyone for that matter. ...or will I? *DUN DUN DUN***

**And I need some help with some Sburb things:**

**3. What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**4. What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a _meaning. _I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**5. And, do you want Cadeus and Kirie to end up as kismesis, or do you want Niko to step in and auspisticize between them? (I can't really see Eva doing that. ._.)**

**6. And for the romance matter, do you want Eva to get her wish and Niko learns to love her, or do you want Niko to not fall in love with her and they end up as _just friends?_**

**_7. _NEW What do you think everyone's titles should be? Kirie OF COURSE has to be the Princess of Something, I was thinking Niko would be a Bard, and Eva could be an Heir. No idea about Cadeus. :/ Send in ideas! **


	11. COMBINE

**I don't own Homestuck! Or any copyrights!  
>;-; My laptop (what I usually write this story on) is screwing up, the Internet is slow and won't load FFN. I'm currently writing this chapter on my phone (which is funny because that's how I wrote the first chapter). Anyway, thank you people for reviewing! *v* And thank you kopycat101 for favoriting! Once I get on an actual computer I'll respond to everyone's reviews! Three reviewers is more than I could have hoped for! C:<br>**

**Replying to Rotciv557 (since you were anon I can't message you... ^^'), thank you for saying this is awesome! :) You're awesome! I'm glad you like the fic and my precious babies. I've spent a lot of time trying to make them like-able. As for the titles, as another reviewer Ziafna said, all the titles and elements are each one syllable (ex: Page of Breath, Mage of Doom, Witch of Life, etcetera.) so the title 'Princess' wouldn't work. :C And 'Melody' would be good, 'cept I like using the original elements. I figured I've been butchering the original concepts so much I might as well not try to add anything. And Niko singing 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' would be awesome! I can see it happen, totally. ;) And it might just happen! ...Later on, I haven't even gotten to imps first. ^^' Anyway, thank you!**

**I got a review for a Kirie chapter and a review for a Eva and Niko chapter. Sooo, that just means I'll have a little bit of everyone. ('cept Cadeus, poor baby. 8:C) Also, instead of doing those whole chapter question and answer sessions like last chapter, I'm just going to answer one or two questions at the beginning of each chapter. At this point you might be getting tired at my insistence in answering questions, but I just want to make sure I don't confuse you! (Plus, I don't have to explain these thing later on. B) )  
>This was a question I was going to make Cadeus's number three, but I forgot about it. -_-'<strong>

**Question for Cadeus: What do you mean by 'psychic abilities'? (I actually said a bit about them in Chapter 3, but didn't go into very much detail.)**

"oh, esssssset kind of taught me sssome ssstuff. he'sss really sssmart. 8:) using my eyesss i can hypnotizzze people and if i do it right i can sssee their thoughtsss. i haven't massstered actually getting inssside their headsss yet, i had limited interactionsss with other trollsss ssso it'sss a wonder i've managed to hone my abilitiesss thisss far. practicccing on sssnakesss isss jussst too easssy. but yeah, i hypnotizzze people and then jussst whisssper commandsss and they obey. 8:) esssssset doesss it a LOT better, he can get inside people'sss headsss and look at their thoughtsss and memoriesss! he'sss going to continue to teach me."  
><strong>(So, in short, his powers are similar to Vriska's, in the whole mind control thing. But, while Vriska can only control certain people, Cadeus can control anyone. BUT but but, remember that he has to make EYE CONTACT, and I doubt that he'll be able to hypnotize people automatically.)<strong>

**ANYWAY, let's start off with Niko, as we haven't focused on him since he shared Chapter 8 with Kirie. (Words spoken aloud are now going to be in the person's typing quirk, and sorry if I offend anyone with Kirie's mouth. She has a potty mouth, tsk tsk. I assume you're used to bad language if you read Homestuck. *shrug*)**

Niko: Answer Eva.

She had asked you something weird (as usual). Out of the blue, right after the ...Sprite rose out of the Cruxwhatever, she asked what was the most non-threatening you could think of.

111111

You have a bit of time to think about your answer, she's currently marveling over the Sprite.  
>You type out:<p>

RP: weird question, i dunno,  
>pillows,<br>bunnies,  
>candy,<br>balloons,  
>toys,<br>marshmallows :/ soft stuff

That should be enough to satisfy her, you decide not to even ask as you probably don't even want to know the answer.

111111

You are startled as you hear a knock from your front door. You slowly stand up and go to answer the door.

Kirie: Mess with Sprite.

You've been hesitantly playing with the shining ball thing, and you've kind of guessed it's the Kernelsprite you read about online. Eva said not to prototype it.

"Hey asshole, do you know what this thing is?"

111111

You can faintly hear your computer beeping back a reply, but you ignore him and start fiddling with the Cruxtruder.  
>As you turn the wheel, you are surprised and fall back onto the ground. A purple cylinder has popped out and landed onto the Cruxtruder's fallen lid. Weirdly, words pop into your head saying, 'You have extruded ONE (1) CRUXITE DOWEL'. Freaky.<p>

111111

You get up and poke the... Cruxite Dowel. It's firmer than you thought, like really hard Jello.

Kirie: Get cruxite.

Your sylladex beeps in protest, you've filled everything up. You sigh exasperatedly and spin your Wheel modus. It unexpectedly shoots out the bottle of Pepsi. You wince, it will probably break something. You captchalogue the cruxite and see a bright light off to your side.

111111

You gasp, it seems that the Pepsi bottle smashed straight into the Kernelsprite.  
><em>Oops.<em>  
>The Kernelsprite flashes purple and white before taking on the appearance of a purple Pepsi bottle in a ring. It spews purple versions of the Pepsi symbol in a sort of... speech bubble? Another message pops into your head: 'The KERNELSPRITE has been prototyped with the PEPSI BOTTLE.'<p>

111111

You hesitantly move a step forward before looking down, feeling a slick surface under your flip flop. You bend down and pick up a red card. On the front of it is- if you squint past the randomly placed holes- a purple birdcage. You carefully spin your modus and breathe out a sigh of relief as the bag of pretzels falls gently to the ground. You then captchalogue the pre-punched card.

Kirie: Answer Cadeus.

You need to hear somebody else's take on this situation. At the top of the conversation is him answering your earlier question.

PR: dunno what that ssshiny thing isss, but it'sss pretty. 8:)

And then there's a bunch of 'hey' comments of him trying to get your attention. You just check the most recent.

PR: WHAT WASSS THAT?  
>AR: Uh, a Sprite prototyping. I think. :  
>PR: a what what?<br>AR: Don't worry about it. :| I've got it handled.  
>PR: no! we're in this together, so we'll figure this game out TOGETHER!<br>PR: i'll drop those cushiony things on you, swear!  
>AR: ...heh, you dropped that stupid typing quirk. :) I guess that in itself earns something.<br>PR: i don't know what thisss 'ssstupid' typing quirk you're sssaying thingsss about isss. B:)  
>AR: Heh, sssure. B)<br>AR: Anyway, a Kernelsprite is apparently something that helps you, and it also is somehow important. I don't know A LOT about it, but I know some things that the walkthroughs online say. :/ None of them have gotten very far, the game only came out a few days ago.  
>PR: i sssee... what isss thisss about prototyping?<br>AR: I'm not EXACTLY sure, but after watching what just happened, I guess whenever you put/throw something near/at the Kernelsprite it takes on the properties of the item.  
>PR: ...hm.<br>AR: My friend kind of sort of told me to not prototype it yet, but... Oops. -_-'  
>PR: it'sss not your fault. 8:( it wasss your modusss, i presssume?<br>AR: Yeah. So you have a modus too, alien boy.  
>PR: yep! and i guessssss you believe me now?<br>AR: Not on your life. :p Aliens don't have modii, dipshit.  
>PR: we do ssso! every troll has a modusss!<br>AR: Ah... So you're a troll, huh?  
>PR: uh yeah?<p>

AR: Explains a lot. Bp

PR: ...what do you mean?

AR: Don't even pretend, freak boy. :| You just said you were trolling me.

PR: uh, that's what i do, i'm a troll.

AR: Will you judst drop thje acvt! Its noiyt fiunny!'

PR: i'm not acting you ssstupid girl!

AR: WHSAT THRE FIUCK EVER! JUST STIOP IT, THIDS IS SERIUOIUS!

PR: ARGHHHHH! YOU ARE IMPOSSSSSSIBLE!

AR: FFFFFFFUCJ YOU!

Eva: Prototype Kernelsprite.

Uh, _no. _This is a _delicate_ process, you can't just prototype it with whatever! It has to be something that can't come back and bite you in the butt later. Apparently the prototyping affects your final bosses directly, so it's better to use something useless and non threatening. You admire the Sprite once more before heading over to your computer to see what Niko has replied.

RP: weird question, i dunno,  
>pillows,<br>bunnies,  
>candy,<br>balloons,  
>toys,<br>marshmallows :/ soft stuff

"Ah, those seem very useless :D While I do not have any bunnies or candy, there are throw pillows on some chairs in the corner ^^ Mmmm, marshmallows said good right now oqo"

"...Niko :/"

"...Niko :o"

"…...Ni Ni Niko :O"

"NIKO!"

RP: i'm back, chill out :/

"*huff* _Well_, why did you not answer me :/"

RP: i had to answer the door, my big brother brought my little sister home

RP: they said she shouldn't be at the hospital

"Oh... What happened again :?"

RP: …a friend of the family is hospitalized, they couldn't come get me and Ky because we were too far away, but apparently they decided my little sis couldn't stay so my brother brought her home and now i have to babysit her :/

Niko: Answer door.

A few minutes ago you had opened your door to find your elder brother staring down at you, your little sister, Hillary, held tightly in his arms. He explained that Hillary was too young to stay overnight at the hospital, and that YOU were now in charge of her. He then handed the five year old off to you and left, ignoring your sputtering responses. Hillary just simply clung to your chest and smiled at you. You gave up on being indignant and fixed her some Goldfish crackers and apple juice. And then you answered Eva, who was yelling for your attention.

111111

RP: so yeah, i have to take care of her

RP: and i know you don't do it a lot, but lay off the cursing

"I think it is cute how you don't cuss C: You are fifteen, most kids your age would cuss up a storm when their parents were not there, sometimes even when they are there :)"

RP: well theres no point in cussing, i don't believe that whole 'cussing is a sign of low intelligence', lots of smart people cuss, but i still just don't like it

111111

"Nik?"

You glance over your shoulder to see your little sister tugging on your sleeve.

"what is it Hill"

"What time is it?"

You glance at the clock on the wall beside you.

"6:22"

"Can I watch TV?"

"sure, just keep it down low"

"Thanks Nikki!"

Your little sister then proceeds to kiss your cheek softly before bouncing away. You wipe the Goldfish crumbs off your face before turning back to the monitor. Eva has picked up a small yellow cushion and is messing around with it.

This requires investigation.

111111

RP: wat are you doing

Eva: Prototype Sprite with Cushion.

You're thinking about doing just that. The cushion is small and soft, it wouldn't even be useful in a pillow fight. This would probably cripple whatever the final boss is. You have a fleeting thought to go talk to Niko about it, but you shake the thought out of your head. He would probably ask a lot of questions and stuff that you will tell him _later. _Geez, he is so impatient!

111111

You walk back over to your sprite and throw the cushion at it. It emits a blinding light show of yellow, white, and black. You quickly shield your eyes and don't look up until the lights stop. The Kernelsprite has now become a white pillow lined in yellow with a yellow ring around it. Cool.

Yellow texts drifts into your head:

The KERNELSPRITE has been prototyped with the SMALL CUSHION.

**And... CUT! :)**

**...Friggity frak, I don't really have anything to say right now. :/ **

**...Okay, so we see Kirie and Eva both do their first prototypings, Kirie has Pepsisprite (XD Pepsi and Sprite, just realized that!) and Eva has Cushionsprite. **

**We also get to see Niko's little sister, Hillary. She will continue to be a character, I'm not going to kill a little five year old girl! Anyway, I got the idea of a someone's family member coming into the Medium with them last chapter. I also didn't want to have anyone older than my characters, and Kirie and Niko were the only ones with younger siblings. Niko seemed like the obvious choice, Kirie isn't responsible enough to take care of someone else. She can barely take care of herself as is.**

_**Questions: **_

**1. Who do you want to see next?**

**Kirie?**

**Cadeus?**

**Eva?**

**Niko?**

**2. What wordsss do you want Cadeusss to sssay? B:) I like usssing wordsss with lotsss of 's'sss ssso Cadeusss can sssay them with a hissssss.**

**3. Like how Homestuck first started out, send in titles for me to use. Example: 'Cadeus: Select cushiony thing.' I'll try to use all ones you send in, I mean I've got 2,166 words per average per chapter, so I think I can fit anything in, even if it's silly. ;) Of course, don't send me things like 'Fight an imp.' or 'Talk to Rose.'. I'm not at imps yet, and if I do ever write using a canon character I know I will fail miserably. ;-; That's why I stick to OCs. Plus, unless I had a good reason (*nudge nudge* Eva's spirit travels! ;D *shot*) I wouldn't write about it. ...And no, I will not use Eva to spirit travel and talk to Rose. Or anyone for that matter. ...or will I? *DUN DUN DUN* (I won't)**

**And I need some help with some Sburb things:**

**3. What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**4. What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a _meaning. _I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**5. And, do you want Cadeus and Kirie to end up as kismesis, or do you want Niko to step in and auspisticize between them? (I can't really see Eva doing that. ._.)**

**6. And for the romance matter, do you want Eva to get her wish and Niko learns to love her, or do you want Niko to not fall in love with her and they end up as _just friends?_**

**_7._What do you think everyone's titles should be? Kirie OF COURSE has to be something royal, Princess doesn't work because it has one too many syllables, and somebody reviewed that she should have the element of Rage. C: I think it fits. I was thinking Niko would be a Bard, and Eva could be an Heir. No idea about Cadeus. :/ Send in ideas!**

**So yeah, look forward to Niko babysitting for the rest of the story! I'm sure that Hillary will turn out to be the driving force for him in this game.**


	12. BORED

**Hello everyone! :) I gave myself a day break and now I'm back writing! On that day (yesterday for me) I hung out with my younger cousin, let's call him A. Me and A had a lot of fun, he and I spent the night at my Grandmother's, and my Gm lives right next me. Me and A went swimming, played around with Gm's dog's puppies, and messed around on my laptop. It was fun. -v- 'cept today when he left I cut my heel on the edge of my Gm's porch, and now it hurts when I walk. :c**

**Anyway, away from me, we're on Chapter 12! I've always loved the numbers 6, 9, and 12, so hopefully this will be a good chappie! I got a review (I've been getting a lot lately!) to do Cadeus; so that's who will be the main focus this chapter. :3**

**Replys to reviews: (anon reviews specifically, you guys REALLY need to get accounts! We are missing out on so, SO many would-be conversations! :C )**

**frigidPyro: The puzzle is a really good idea! I might use it, you'll have to stick around and see~ **

**rotciv557: I LOVE your multiple reviews! Don't stop 'em! :) And YOU are awesome. As for the Boulevard of Broken Dreams and [S] Descend, I'll watch it as soon as I can! My laptop's Flash player is messed up, I've tried to fix it but it doesn't work. :( Cadeus's Artifact has gotten a lot of attention lately, I'm going to try to combine everything as best I can, but it might not work out... Anyway, I'll try to end this story as best I can! I can't guarantee anything... but I'll try! **

**A question for: Kirie.**

**What do you do all day, since you don't leave your house?**

'Hold on, I leave my house for school. :/ And while I'm there I do work and talk to my friends. When I get home I get on my laptop and watch videos, play games, etc etc. I also read, watch TV, and draw. ...That's about it. Oh, and I guess I pester who ever is online.'

**Anyway, START!**

**Chapter 12**

**BORED**

[BORED]

Cadeus: Cluck like a chicken and stand on your head.

While you are admittedly good at head-stands, you're too busy right now to do any. As for clucking, you don't even know what a 'chicken' is. Anyway, you need to _focusss_ right now! What were you doing?

Cadeus: Look at your hands.

Your gray fingers are idly hitting the keys 'H', 'E', and 'Y'. You look up at your screen and see the human girl ignoring you and messing with the shiny ball thing. You sigh and stretch yourself out, leaning back in your chair. This game had _ssseemed _fun when you started, but now it was just _boring. _You just sat in your chair and waited for the girl to do something. Speaking of which, it seemed she was doing something right now.

121212

Again your sensitive eyes are bombarded with flashing lights. You clench your eyes shut and hear Esset hiss in pain next to you, his eyes being even more sensitive than yours but having no lids to cover them. You keep your eyes shut as your lids fade out the after image and clumsily pat Esset's neck/body/stomach area. He coils himself and you feel him move away from the desk. You cautiously open your eyes and peek at the screen. The girl is staring in shock at the shiny thing, which has now taken the shape of some sort of liquid containing device.

Cadeus: Troll AR.

PR: WHAT WASSS THAT?  
>AR: Uh, a Sprite prototyping. I think. :  
>PR: a what what?<p>

You continue to have the conversation from Chapter 11.

121212

Wow, _jussst _as you were starting to think '_hey, ssshe'sss not ssso bad!', _she has to blow up and ruin it. She doesn't believe practically anything you say about yourself! And, she kind of had a negative reaction to the word 'troll'. You don't know why, she just seems to assume you know everything she says.

121212

Now she's gone off to figure stuff out on her own, and you guess you should too. You click the 'Explore Atheneum' button, as it had been flashing. You jump as green text fills your head:

'Acquiring a CRUXITE DOWEL seems to have populated the ATHENEUM with one item: a PERFECTLY GENERIC OBJECT.'

121212

The Perfectly Generic Object (PGO) apparently costs 2 Build Grist, if the little icon is to go by. You sit and ponder this a while. What can you do with a PGO?

It doesn't really matter, you can't make it. The girl is the only one who can do that, as she has the Cruxite.

121212

You sigh once more and decide to look around the girl's house.

After exploring a bit, you find out that the house is _B-O-R-I-N-G. _There is nothing, NOTHING to do! Well, you could always move stuff around and revise the blocks (AN: rooms), but that wastes Build Grist, and you might need that later. You sign out of Trollian and push yourself away from the computer in a huff, probably crushing several snakes under the wheels in the process.

Cadeus: Go up to surface.

You make your way through the elaborate system of tunnels, noting the several markings on the walls. There is an assortment, but most of them have your symbol under them. There's a crude drawing of a shirt and staff with your symbol under them and an arrow pointing left, symbolizing that your clothing and weapons block is off a ways to the left. Another symbol is a large circle with two 's's pointing to the right, showing where there is a spot where the Sun comes in through a crack in the ceiling where Esset suns himself. You avoid there usually, but you have to pass it on your way to the surface.

You're not even sure if it's night or day.

121212

You finally find a mark you're looking for, a double 's' under a large arrow pointing upwards and another arrow pointing left. This is showing that the way up to the surface is to the left, and Esset usually doesn't let you go up by yourself. He says _'You alwayss sseem to get in all ssortss of trouble when I leave you by yoursself.'_, pah, you can take care of yourself! ...Sometimes.

121212

You finally make to the opening and realize that the trap-door that usually covered the door is up. You climb up using the handholds and start wishing you brought one of your staves. One you reach the top you climb out and gratefully note it is near sunset, the sun isn't as harsh as it would be during the day. It's still slightly irritating, you might have a rash later.

Cadeus: Attack intruder.

You hear a rustling in the tall grass off to your right. You roll backwards and _wait for the intruder to ssshow themssselves._ Your alarm isn't needed, it is Esset who slithers out of the grass. You are worried that he might punish or ground you, as he has a grim look on his face. He crawls over to your side and looks deeply into your eyes.

_'Everyone iss dead.'_

**Short chapter, huh? Sorry... :C But**

**Anyway, something you may be thinking about is Cadeus's relationship to Esset, his lusus. It's a popular misconception that trolls dislike their lusii, probably popularized by Karkat and his relationship with his lusus. However, as shown with Nepeta and Pounce de Leon, Tavros and Tinkerbull, Kanaya and the Virgin Mother Grub, and Equius and Arthur, a lot of trolls have a loving relationship with their lusii. And from what we can see of Aradia and her lusus, they had a healthy relationship. Gamzee and his lusus, also; even though his lusus left him Gamzee still seemed sad when he died. Terezi seemed to like hers, even though it wasn't born. Vriska had a kind of love/hate with her lusus, and Eridan seemed to not exactly hate his. Feferi probably loved her lusus, she seems the kind to like things that could kill everyone if she didn't take care of it. ._.**

**Oh! Almost forgot Sollux (even though he's my fave) and his Bicyclops. He didn't hate him, he just didn't like that he was so stupid.**

**So yeah, only Karkat didn't like his lusus. And even then, he probably didn't _really _hate him.**

…**..Questions:**

**1. Who do you want to see next?**

**Kirie?**

**Cadeus?**

**Eva?**

**Niko?**

**2. What wordsss do you want Cadeusss to sssay? B:) I like usssing wordsss with lotsss of 's'sss ssso Cadeusss can sssay them with a hissssss.**

**3. Like how Homestuck first started out, send in titles for me to use. Example: 'Cadeus: Select cushiony thing.' I'll try to use all ones you send in, I mean I've got 2,166 words per average per chapter, so I think I can fit anything in, even if it's silly. ;) Of course, don't send me things like 'Fight an imp.' or 'Talk to Rose.'. I'm not at imps yet, and if I do ever write using a canon character I know I will fail miserably. ;-; That's why I stick to OCs. Plus, unless I had a good reason (*nudge nudge* Eva's spirit travels! ;D *shot*) I wouldn't write about it. ...And no, I will not use Eva to spirit travel and talk to Rose. Or anyone for that matter. ...or will I? *DUN DUN DUN* (I won't)**

**And I need some help with some Sburb things:**

**3. What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**4. What should Eva's and Cadeus's Cruxite Artifacts be? They won't appear till later, but I need some ideas. :/ And they can't just be random items, they gotta have a _meaning. _I've got Niko and Kirie's CAs and meanings, already.**

**5. And, do you want Cadeus and Kirie to end up as kismesis, or do you want Niko to step in and auspisticize between them? (I can't really see Eva doing that. ._.)**

**6. And for the romance matter, do you want Eva to get her wish and Niko learns to love her, or do you want Niko to not fall in love with her and they end up as _just friends?_**

**_7._What do you think everyone's titles should be? Kirie OF COURSE has to be something royal, Princess doesn't work because it has one too many syllables, and somebody reviewed that she should have the element of Rage. C: I think it fits. I was thinking Niko would be a Bard, and Eva could be an Heir. No idea about Cadeus. :/ Send in ideas!**

**I'm going to go on another break/hiatus/whatever you call it. I've got a few books I want to read, The Wall and the Wing and Gorillaz: Rise of the Ogre. :)**


	13. GLIMPSE

**Replies to Reviews:**

**...Uh, Someone who was anon and didn't leave a name: I WILL use that 'Kirie: Drink that Pepsisprite'! And, as much as I'd love Cadeus to explore everyone's hives, I think they would be rubble by now. :/**

**Rotciv557: I enjoy every review I get. :) (you're awesome) I was thinking about having one, at the most two, god-tier characters. But, it will be waaaaaaay later on. Wayyy. I actually try to make my characters very flawed. The least flawed right now is Cadeus, mainly because I haven't built much of him up. The CAs are really confusing. XI I think I have them all figured out now, though. I'm going to have to compile everyones' suggestions for titles and have a poll later on in the story. Ha, I'll have Niko 'Pester Rose'. Probably later on, whenever he's more stressed and likely to have a meltdown. I exist for laughter, so I'll try to fit as many funny moments in this story as I can. XD You really want Niko to be the Bard of Song, don't you? I know that Eva and Niko aren't geared up for a relationship yet. I just like to have parts of the story planned out way ahead of time.**

**After reading the latest update, I realized Jadesprite's text color is very close to Cadeus's. If you need a visual aid, look at her text.**

**Also, here's a little time guide for you (times may change a teensy bit):**

_At 23:29 something is cleansed._

_At 23:30 something is mended._

_At 23:35 something is released._

_At 23:45 something is solved._

**:) What does this mean? … You'll find out. LATER. **

Kirie: Calm down.

ARGHHHH. _Every single time _you talk to that jerk you end up mad and frustrated and filled with FFF. You storm away from you computer, intent on playing this whole game WITHOUT HIM.

You take a deep breath and try relax; the jerk can probably see you is probably laughing at your anger. Probably.

Kirie: Pester Jerk-face.

AR: GO AWAYY!

You nod in satisfaction as he doesn't answer. He either signed out or was still invisible but not answering. You've been meaning to ask him about why he always appears offline when he messages you, but you sure as hell aren't going to do it now.

Kirie: Drink that Pespisprite.

No, no, you're pretty sure that's impossible. And probably poisonous. Probably.

With a jolt you realize that you prototyped the Sprite with _your _bottle of Pepsi. Frustration settles back in and you punch a wall to ease your anger. And then promptly curl yourself around the abused appendage as the pain sets in.

131313

The reason why you are so upset about the Pepsi is simple: your mother rarely lets you drink pop. It sounds pretty stupid, but your sisters, grandmother, and mom are all trying to be healthy and are forcefully including you. Your father, lucky bastard, has been spared of this tyranny. He constantly buys bottles of Pepsi, your and his favorite drink, and has been told not to share with you. This has not stopped you from going after him.

You STRIFE with him, but the battles are always over quickly. He just gives you a glass of water and walks right on by. You've vowed that you will one day win against, just probably not any time soon. Probably.

131313

And _this _bottle of Pepsi, the one prototyped into your Sprite, was a bottle your parents had got you after taking your EOIs. You had only had one glass, ONE GLASS!

Kirie: Sneak into parents' room to get Pepsi.

Naw, when they get home they'll get pissed if they see their room's been broken in to. You'll just have to put up with the constant reminder of your failure.

131313

You hear a slight flapping noise and extend your not-hurt hand for Piggen to roost upon. He cocks his head to the side and makes soft cooing noises.

"I know, I know, I've got to figure this game out. X/ I'm just pissed off right now."

He tilts his head again and flys off, landing on the Alchemiter. Whether he's really smart and telling you to focus on this piece of machinery or just being an animal and liking the part of the Alchemiter he can perch on, you still check the thing out anyways.

Kirie: Fiddle with it.

Fiddling is what you do best. After a good bit of fiddling it produces a green cube.

You set the ALCHEMITER to cast ONE (1) PERFECTLY GENERIC OBJECT for some reason, expending a total of 2 units of BUILD GRIST.

131313

You're not sure what that does, but you'll find out after some more fiddling! You decide to fiddle with the Totem Lathe, noticing it has a perfect spot to insert the pre-punched card.

Kirie: Spin Wheel Modus.

GENTLY. You don't want another Pepsi incident. The card thankfully pops out on the first turn. _Score!_

Future Kirie: Defend the townspeople.

Seeing as how the occupants of the town are all peaceful little doves that remind you so much of _him,_ it would be going against every moral fiber of your being not to.

The enemy in question is a large Aluminum Giclops, a tall and muscular being with one eye, a prominent brow, and a spiked head. It has caused you some trouble for quite some time now, attacking the safe haven you now call home. You set out, fully rested and well equipped, to the dense clump of trees the beast has claimed as its lair.

Kirie: Insert card.

You insert the pre-punched card into the slot, watching in confusion as the Tool Arm above springs out an array of different carving parts. It needs something to carve.

Kirie: Retrieve Cruxite.

You first accidentally retrieve your hairbrush, which shoots out and almost hits Piggen. He squawks and returns to the safety of your head. You clamp the Cruxite onto the totem lathe and step back as the machine whirs to life.

The lathe carves ONE (1) TOTEM.  
>You take the TOTEM.<p>

Future Kirie: Aggrieve!

You have entered a STRIFE with the Giclops, it being weakened from previous encounters. However, the thing is still extremely strong, and you thank your lucky stars that you have a long range weapon.

After 30 minutes of this tiring battle, the exhaustion finally catches up with you and you misstep, throwing your boomerang so that it veers harmlessly past the Giclops.

.?.?.?

It takes full advantage of your blunder, charging at you and slamming its fist into your chest. The air leaves your body in a single whoosh, half from the blow and half from you gasping as you hear several ominous cracks. Your body is tossed backwards into a tree from the force, miraculously near Queen's Rule. After a scary bit of blacking out for a few seconds, you woozily try to grab the boomerang, having to stop in the middle to cough up a questionable amount of blood.

Kirie: Take totem to Alchemiter.

You've got a Perfectly Generic Object in the way. You try to push the thing ("Damn this thing is heavy!") and after shoving it for a good five minutes it topples off. _Now _you can place the totem there.

Future Kirie: Retreat.

You can't retreat, you can barely move! Your fingers clumsily grip Queen's Rule, and after seeing the Giclops ready itself for another charge, you frantically try to find a weak spot.

.?.?.?

The eye! You've weakened it enough that if you hit its vulnerable eye it would explode into Grist and DIE! You carefully take aim, this is your last shot!

Kirie: Place totem.

You do so, and the Alchemiter scans the totem. After the process is done, a flat purple circle materializes on the pad with the weird symbols. It lays still for a moment, then tendrils shoot up, and curve inwards to make a sort of structure. Horizontal lines are made from tendrils shooting out of the curved tendrils, and at long last you recognize it as the birdcage from the card.

Inside the cage is a soft purple dove, singing quietly to itself.

Kirie: Open cage.

You are about to do so, but you hesitate. You are... _scared _of the bird, which is a first for you. You've seen falcons and eagles and herons and cranes and even an ostrich (from the zoo), and you've always impatiently waited until you could touch them, your glee almost getting the best of you. But this cute little dove, what if it's supposed to be caged for a _reason?_

You scurry back to your computer and notice it is 6:58. That reminds you that... hmmm.

131313

You pull up the chat log that you last had with Eva. The last thing she said, around 18:11, was:

RA: Yes :) Try not to do anything stupid in between now and then, and DO NOT prototype your Kernelsprite until later :| Also, connect to Niko at around 7:00 and become his server :D Bye ^^

131313

Whoops._ You _might not consider pissing Cadeus off as being stupid, but Eva probably would. Probably. You also should probably inform her that you _accidentally _prototyped your Sprite. Probably.

Anyway, you should probably connect with Niko and become his server. Probably.

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering Y [YY] at 18:58 -

AR: Hey Niko, I'm setting up a connection so I can be your server!

AR: Eva's orders!

RP: she already told me, ill connect too

131313

You smile, so far this game has been dull, but now that you and Niko are playing together, it will be alot more fun! He's like, one of your closest friends, and he isn't being all cryptic like Eva is.

Future Kirie: Throw!

You do so, willing all of your might into this one shot. The Giclops runs toward you unsteadily, you are both, so to speak, on your last legs.

The boomerang zooms forwards in a deadly arch, and it hits! ….just not where you want it to.

.?.?.?

It grazes the beast on its shoulder, not even slowing its progress. You watch with horror as the Giclops gets closer and closer to where you are lying prone, half stuck to a tree. You are probably dead.

Proba- _Definitely. _

**...I'm terrible, I know. I won't show the future much, but I'll do it occasionally. ….*sob* That hurt me to write that scene... Unlucky number 13, huh?**

**The deal with the probably thing is that I use probably ALOT, so I'm going to point it out to myself every time I use it. Probably.**

**1. Who do you want to see next?**

**2. What wordsss do you want Cadeusss to sssay? B:) I like usssing wordsss with lotsss of 's'sss ssso Cadeusss can sssay them with a hissssss.**

**3. Like how Homestuck first started out, send in titles for me to use. Example: 'Cadeus: Select cushiony thing.' I'll try to use all ones you send in, I mean I've got 2,166 words per average per chapter, so I think I can fit anything in, even if it's silly. ;) Of course, don't send me things like 'Fight an imp.' or 'Talk to Rose.'. I'm not at imps yet, and if I do ever write using a canon character I know I will fail miserably. ;-; That's why I stick to OCs. Plus, unless I had a good reason (*nudge nudge* Eva's spirit travels! ;D *shot*) I wouldn't write about it. ...And no, I will not use Eva to spirit travel and talk to Rose. Or anyone for that matter. ...or will I? *DUN DUN DUN* (I won't)**

**4. What are some of the most non-threatening things you can think of?**

**5_._What do you think everyone's titles should be? **

**Something I probably have to mention: I'm almost 100% sure I have to have a character for each of the elements Time and Space. On the wiki, which I go to quite a lot, it says: '**DOC SCRATCH implies that every session will have a Hero of Time, and if the breeding duties are indeed linked to the Hero of Space they would be another constant in the game.**'. Sooo, I'm going to have a Hero of Time and a Hero of Space. *shrug* Give me your input.**

**Also, since coming up with four more characters is tedious, I will serve as all of my characters' Exile. I will be the Impulsive Creator! I sit, thousand of years ahead of your time, and write this wrapped in a large faded purple blanket! Fear me! **

****ahem** Anyway, today is a friend's birthday, so after writing this I will go over to her house. :) **

**And, July 11 through 15 I will be on vacation, leaving my laptop at home. And then, the 15 through the 17 is my local con, so I'll be busy at that... ^^' So don't expect me for a while... **

**(also, my wo****rd do****cument turns the th and nd that follows #s really small, and then they don't transfer to FFN)**


	14. BENUMB

**Replies to Reviews:**

**Rotciv557: Read the questions at the end of this chapter. (You can still try to convince me!)**

**Undeadhypnotist: Cadeus's blood color is green, he'd be higher on the troll's caste system than Nepeta, but lower than Kanaya. For a visual reference, look at Jadesprite's text or on my profile there's a link.**

**IpadDoodler: I'm happy you like this! :3 Kirie is a bit like Vriska I suppose, she's just nowhere near as cruel or cunning. I'm glad you like Cadeus, he hasn't had much screentime, but he's got a great personality! (I hope that doesn't sound conceited...) He'll be in this chapter.**

**You pronounce it 'pig-in', like 'there's a **_**pig in **_**the pen'. It comes from an old inside joke that I have with my friends irl. I just couldn't pass putting it in here, even if none of my friends like Homestuck or read fanfiction.**** :(**

**I assume you mean weapons, because Cruxite Artifacts are what the players use to get into the ****Medium. ^^' I'll try to do all kinds of cool, funny, cute, etc. weapons, so if I can I'll use those ideas. :) Writing long reviews is fine with me! I love all reviews despite content or length.**

**I'm not going to make this a romance-centered story, but it's always nice to have sub-plots and side-stories. I'll try to (note to self: stop using the word 'try') have both pairings in the story, but like I said it won't focus on them. And I dunno, pencils and lamps are kind of dangerous! D: And sketches can give you paper cuts! ...Naw, they're good. 'Shakiness' is a great word! Plus, sort of easy to say in a story. And you did pretty well with spelling everyone's name, except for one sort of funny time when you called Eva 'Evan'. Thank you for your review. :)**

**Also, thank you anyone who has Favorited or +Story Alerted. It only shows me who has when I check my email, which I don't check often. ^^' **

**Chapter 14**

[BENUMB]

Eva: Prototype your sprite.

Naw, you already did your first prototyping. No need to do a second. Yet.

141414

After hearing the telltale beep from your computer, signifying a message, you storm over to it. Instead of checking your messages, you mute the speakers and turn the monitor off. You have more important things to do than answer Niko's questions. Like, retrieving tomes of The Family's teachings.

They're scattered around the library, hidden in the shelves. It won't take you _that _long, there's only twenty of them. Maybe 25. At the most 40.

141414

Alright, maybe it will take you a long time. You have no clue how many there are, or even where they are. You've been wandering around for god knows how long, and you've only found three. And then you had to take them back to the front des- you mean _sacred starting station. _They were frikkin; heavy! Even carrying one at a time hurt your arms. But you had to hurry and get as many as you could! You only had a certain amount of time till the meteors would come, and then... Well, you had to hurry.

141414

Spotting the tomes weren't so hard, they were bound in black leather and had yellow ribbons built in as bookmarks. Getting them down/up from the shelves was kind of hard, to get them down you to be careful not drop them, and to get them from the bottom shelves took alot of leg strength.

Eva: Retrieve tome.

You spot one on a higher shelf and stand on your tiptoes to retrieve it. You slowly slide it out, being as careful as you can. Unfortunately, you weren't careful enough and the tome slips out of your grasp and falls smack dab onto your forehead. Which, effectively knocks you out. _**OW**_.

Cadeus: Mourn.

You of course knew that everyone was dead, but you hadn't really _realized _it. When Esset told you he couldn't find any trace of trolls around, it had finally clicked that you were stuck here alone. With Esset and the snakes, but no fellow trolls to talk to. It wasn't like you talked to alot of people anyway, but once you were 8 sweeps old and fully grown you were going to start.

Now you would never have a matesprit or find a worthy kismesis! You could never confide with a moirail, or join an auspistization! (AN: I assume that's a way to call it, people are auspistices, you auspisticize, etc.)

141414

You couldn't fill _one_, let alone all, of the quadrants. The only interactions you could have now is with your lusus or the thousands of stupid snakes lying about your hive. And you suppose the human girl, but you can't even have a conversation without making her mad. It's a shame, she seems to be at the least 'interesting'.

141414

But then again, she wants nothing to no with you. So, by extension you want nothing to do with her.

She says she can figure this ssstupid game out by herself, so let her!

Cadeus: Meditate.

Nothing much else to do, really. Of course, you move out of the sun first. You make your way down the tunnels and go into your Weapon's and Clothing block. There's a soft plushy (green) rug that doesn't make your butt go to sleep after a long period of meditating. You sit down and pull your knees to your chest, placing your arms behind you to support you as you lean back on them. Not the most common meditation pose, but it was comfortable to you. The only complaint you have is that your wrists hurt from being strained.

141414

Without further ado, you launch yourself into meditation. Your mind becomes clear and weirdly, you always dream when you mediate. Of course you aren't really conscious right now, so your explanation will be vague.

Your medi-dreams aren't anything special, no scary things or visions of the future (AN: Or about yellow or purple moons. :/), they're mostly you fighting and getting stronger against other people. They're more like memories, actually. You and Esset didn't fight with other trolls alot, but when you did it was mostly against people who attacked you first. Of course, you and your custodian started a good number of fights, too, but only against trolls or beasts you were stronger than or equal to in strength.

141414

Anyway, you are _clearing your mind _now, so you can't have this in your point of view any more.

Esset: Worry about your charge.

He's a sweet boy, and you know he was looking forward to filling his quadrants when he was older. It almost makes you feel guilty about cooping him up all his life, but then again it also saved him from being crushed once everyone died. He was probably feeling guilty too, from not even trying to save anyone.

141414

You should have told him from the very start that you knew the time when the Vast Glub was to happen, before he had thought of all these ideas about how his future was going to be. The only thing you told him was that something terrible would happen, everyone would die, and you had an idea on how to save him but had _no _idea if it would work. Needless to say, he had a pretty frightening wriggler-hood (AN: What would you call a troll's childhood?).

141414

Other than that, his childhood was pretty good. You were fiercely protective, but also loving.

Cadeus grew up to be a good fighter, fairly intelligent (even if he lacked common sense sometimes), and even though he rarely talked to other people, he had a nice personality and luckily no speech impediments. Well, except for a slight hissss that he got copying you. He learned about his Ancestor, or at least who he thought was his Ancestor, while looking up different poisons. But, you weren't going to go into detail on him, you were busy trying to connect with the human girl, more specifically the one who enjoyed messing with your head.

**Sorry it's sort of short, but I leave for my vacation at 6am tomorrow, and right now it's 11pm (23:00). I wanted to upload something before I left.**

**Questions:**

**1. Who do you want to see next?**

**And, instead of going through those 5 or 6 other questions, for now just answer this:**

**2. What do you want everyone's titles to be? (I will be setting them in stone soon)**

**Here's what people have suggested so far for everyone's titles (I think I got them all, but if I forgot one just tell me) :**

Kirie:

Queen of Rage

Queen of Crown

Queen of Breath **(While it would fit, like the reviewer said, it's cliché because of John. :c)**

Cadeus:

Heir of Space

Knight of _Something_

Prince of _Something_

Rogue of _Something_

Eva:

Page of Time

Heir of Space

Heir of Soul

Heir of Knowledge

Niko:

Bard of Song 

Bard of Doom

**The underlined parts are suggested ones that aren't canon, which while I love 'em, I don't like taking more liberties with the story than I already have. If you guys truly want me to use them, I will, though.**

**I hope to have this all figured out by next chapter and I will post them in the next update. **

**My suggestions: For Kirie, instead of being a Queen of Rage, she could be a Maid or Witch or Seer. I know I was the one to suggest her being something royal first, but now I take it back. **

**Cadeus: The Space part is good, that was what I originally planned for him. :D However, he can't be an Heir. So, Rogue of Space, Mage of Space, and Thief of Space are my suggestions.**

**Eva and Niko: Yes, I'm putting my suggestions for the two together. Simply because one of them has to be the [blank] of Time. Really, right now my suggestions for each one (not of Time) are Heir of Mind and Bard of Doom or Heart or Void (or Song, as an enthusiastic replier really wants it). Which one would I really have to be the Hero of Time? Personally I would prefer Niko. I like Eva as an Heir of Mind, and I'm not exactly what Doom, Heart, Void, or 'Song' would entail.**

**...So yes, review, review, review.**

**I leave for vacation tomorrow, and I'm still debating whether or not to bring my laptop. Either way, I won't post a new chapter till I get back.**

**Bye!~**


	15. SKIP

**UPDATE**

**Alright, I haven't updated in two weeks. I'm so sorry! I have a ton of excuses, but they only cover up till last Monday... Vacation (July 11-15), my local convention(July 16-17), and my sister went into basic training for the Air Force (July 18). The whole rest of the week I was distracted by Supernatural and Doctor Who. :C Sorry. Anyway, something story-related!**

**...The official list of Character's Titles (sorry if your suggestion wasn't used): **

****drumroll****

Kirie: Seer of Rage

Cadeus: Rogue of Space

Niko: Bard of Time

Eva: Heir of Mind **(Lots of people said Thought, but I figured they were close enough; thoughts are in the mind, etc)**

**I hope everyone will be okay with this. I'll post it on my profile and update my own personal character sheet. Another thing, my next big poll will be everyone's worlds. Look forward to it. :) (I'm going to start taking suggestions now, though)**

**Replies to reviews:**

**Undeadhypnotist: Well, I dunno if Kirie'll end up being creeped out by him, but something will happen to him. I foreshadowed this a couple times before. '**Also, I picture Piggen completely white with only a beak and no other facial features, similar to the kids' guardians in the actual story only having one facial feature.**' Alright, that's sort of correct. Let me tell you the start of the inside joke with Piggen:**

**A couple of years ago me and a group of my friends were having a movie night together. We watched a few movies, mostly kid ones. Among them was a classic Disney, ****The Hunchback of Notre Dame****. Early on, we assigned each person in our group to a character, a silly tradition we do. I was given Laverne (the female gargoyle) as my token character. At the end of the film, during the battle, Laverne reenacts the scene from Wizard of Oz with the flying monkeys and the Witch of the West shrieking, "Fly my pretties, FLY!". Except, they replaced the flying monkeys with pigeons and yeah...**

**Well, me and my friends were hopped up on sugar, and for some reason that sent us into hysterical laughter. We had to stop the movie and everything. And since I was associated with Laverne, we made jokes about that. For a while after that I signed all my papers with a little sketch of a bird, sort of rubber duckish in form. The only distinguishing mark on it was a little circle, which represented the eye.**

**Therefore, I've always thought of Piggen being white and very simple designed. ...I bet you weren't expecting a whole story as a response, huh? XD**

**Rotciv557- I looked up the Song of Time. :) Its a nice tune. And you'll have to see what his time machine is~ Oh ho ho ho~ **

**I am very sorry- …I don't know if you want my apologies, because it's not my fault, but I am sorry that you have been hurt. :(**

**...And I will certainly break space as much I am able to. Just mostly I won't mean to...**

**Updated Reviews:**

**Undeadhypnotist: Piggen has had a lot of thought put into him. He was born waaay before this story was thought of, even before Mr. Hussie started Homestuck. He won't play a vital role, but I'm planning on some things with him.**

**And, no, even though I would love my characters to have some kind of little connection to Dave, I don't think any of them would read SBaHJ. Cadeus, being an alien troll and being in a sort of coma, wouldn't have had access to it. Eva and Niko, I think wouldn't like it/think it was stutid. Kirie, I can kind of see her reading it, but no, she hasn't and she won't.**

**Rotciv557: ...I'm not sure I understand... :?**

…

**IpadDoodler: Hiya! Don't overwork yourself on homework, I'd hate if you got hurt. D: **

**Kirie's land will probably have a bird theme, but someone gave me another suggestion that made think about it. **

**Aw... Thank you. :) I've enjoyed this little break, it was what I needed. Over vacation (I didn't tell you guys, I know some people don't like getting on a personal level with random people on the Interwebz), I found out something that sort of... disturbed me. It's fine... It just kind of flipped my world upside down and made me lose hope in goals. :( I'm better now, but for a while I got really scared. **

**Also, my earlier statement about my sister going to Air Force training is now false, she twisted her ankle a few days ago and is being discharged. :/ She can't leave til she's healed, so it's going to take her longer to get home than it did for her to get there and do the few days of training she had. **

**...ahem, back to your review.**

**I HAVE seen the latest updates! :D Oooh, so many things going on! Gotta admit, my favorite part was seeing Sollux again. He's my favorite character. :3 And so many things that I can't say because some people might not have read it yet! **

**SKIP**

**Chapter Start!**

Niko: Skip ahead from last point with you in the story.

...what? You are confused, after Eva ignored you to go walk around the library (you could see her in your viewport), you had given up on her and walked over to watch TV with your little sister. It was a cute little kid show, animated characters running around and singing little songs about rainbows and whatever. Hillary sang along enthusiastically, so you didn't have the heart to change the channel.

It wasn't until the credits were rolling that you heard the telltale beep from your computer saying you had a message.

151515

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering Y [YY] at 18:58 - **(Oh my gaw, I totally forgot to replace Y with reclusivePro and YY with RP in Chapter 13)**

AR: Hey Niko, I'm setting up a connection so I can be your server!

AR: Eva's orders!

RP: she already told me, ill connect too

AR: Right on! :p

151515

Eva had been telling you snippets of what was to come, most of it with terms beyond your knowledge, but you had been pretty darn happy when you heard your cousin was going to join your game. She could make a hole in the ground fun and enjoyable! (Or at the least 'interesting')

The connection seems to take less time, only a few minutes for the both of you. Maybe because you've already connected before?

151515

AR: YEAHHH! Woo! It took me like 10 minutes last time! :D

RP: that reminds me, i heard you had a server, whats he like, eva didnt tell me much

AR: ...He's... grr! He;s a diick!1

RP: ? calm down, and stop swearing

AR: Grrr... Sorry, he just makes me so mad! He's like, a weird roleplayer who plays dress-up.

RP: well, your friend lupita used to dress up for those nerd meetings

AR: That was an anime convention. She dressed up as a character from her favorite show. HE dresses up as some gray-skinned, horned, vampire demon thing. Of his own creation. And, he roleplays as a possibly female snake. He's a freak, Lu is just a dedicated anime lover.

AR: Whatever, if you want to talk to him, his TrollTag (yeah, he's a troll) is panaceaReptile.

AR: Don't say I didn't warn you.

RP: i might talk to him, at the very least to see what he did to tick you off

AR: He's a jerk. :/

RP: thats not rly specific

AR: But it's true. Anyway, back to game stuff!

AR: I can see you! And Hill-pill! Say hi for me! :D

RP: i guess like how i could see eva, huh, and she says hi

RP: c:

AR: Ha, she's a cutie. :) And, btw, I could hear her.

RP: oyeah, you get video and sound

AR: Yep. You could just talk instead of typing.

RP: ...i think i'll type, talking out loud to no one is kinda weird

AR: Kay. :p

RP: uh...so what do you wanna talk about

RP: ky?

RP: hello?

RP: kyyyyyy

AR: Okay, see there's these three machines we need to set up. The Cruxtruder, the Totem Lathe, and the Alchemiter. First, we have to get the Kernelsprite from the Cruxtruder, then get Cruxite Dowels. After releasing my Sprite I noticed a card on the ground, I assume the card comes out with the Sprite. Back to the Cruxite Dowels, you can extrude them after releasing the Sprite. Put one in your Totem Lathe, then insert the card into a slot on the side. My card already had little holes in it, which may hold the code. The Totem Lathe will carve the the Cruxite Dowel into a Totem, then you take the Totem over the Alchemiter, which scans it and makes... well for me it made a birdcage. I'm sort of at a standby now, I don't think I can do anything else yet.

AR: Nik?

RP: hold on, im still reading

AR: Okay.

AR: …

RP: wow

RP: that seems complicated

AR: Sort of.

RP: well, that block of text has been more helpful than eva has this whole game, so thanks :)

AR: She's just absorbed in the game. :/ And, you're welcome.

RP: whatever

RP: oh, and whats the medium

RP: i mean, The Medium

AR: I'm not all that sure. :/

RP: eva talked about it like it was a place

RP: …?

AR: Well... maybe it's not a place, but a state?

AR: Like, this is the Beginning, next is the Medium, and then the End?

AR: Oh, maybe they meant 'the Middle', but they wanted to be original?

AR: Or something... :( Don't mind me...

RP: naw, that's a great idea, it could totally be what it is :D

AR: Really?

RP: ttly!

AR: Well, that's one mystery solved!

RP: yep lol

AR: Okay, let's get started!

RP: i cant

AR: Wha?

RP: Hill's exhausted, i need to make her dinner, give her a bath, and put her to bed

AR: Can't it wait? I wanna play!

RP: i cant, its already 7 something, the food will take a while to prepare, Hill hates taking baths, and it will take forever for her to get to sleep

AR: Fiiiine.

RP: then i need to clean and take a shower

AR: DUDE!

RP: im sorry!

AR: Fiiine, I'll set everything up.

AR: And release the Sprite. The rest is up to you, whenever you get finished with whatever.

RP: kay

151515

For the few hours, Kirie and Niko accomplished several things.

Kirie managed to set everything up in Niko's garage, and forced the Cruxtruder open with a tire jack. She moved the card over to a noticeable spot, and left the brown and white glowing ball alone. After she became uncomfortable in her long jeans, she decided to change into a pair of gray shorts, removing her shoes and hoodie and in the process revealed the purple tank top with a yellow crown on it. She went downstairs to get her glasses case, finding a ponytail holder and pulling her hair into a ponytail on the way. She then retrieved her DS and popped in Elite Beat Agents. Piggen perched on her computer monitor and took a little bird nap.

Niko managed more things, making him and his little sister a delicious dinner of macaroni and cheese (which took his little sister quite a while to pick out), giving Hillary a bath, then changing her into her pajamas, and then finally tucking the five year old into bed, reading her a story, and singing her a lullaby. After Hillary was deep in sleep, Niko went back and cleaned the bathroom, living room, and kitchen. He mopped up stray water, picked up toys, and did the dishes. Then, he took a shower and changed into sleep clothes, black pajama pants with a white T-shirt with a brown eighth note printed on it.

At a little before 11, Niko returns to his computer to continue the game.

**(AN: Ugh... those past paragraphs just sound awkward to me.)**

151515

AR: Hey Nikki, I've got everything set up

RP: cool, let's move this convo to my ipod

Kirie: Pester Niko.

You do as such, and he messages you back with his iPod as he walks towards the garage.

151515

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering reclusivePro [RP] at 21:02 -

AR: Niiikooo

RP: m here

AR: Kay, now go pick up that card, insert it into that machine by your drums (it's the Totem Lathe!), then turn the wheel on the machine to your left, get the Cruxite you extrude, take it back to the Totem Lathe, take the Totem from there to the Alchemiter, and presto! You'll be caught up!

AR: Oh, and ignore the Kernelsprite for now.

RP: ...ooookaaaaayyyy o.O

AR: Ha, a bit too much huh?

RP: i think i can manage

RP: btw, i know what everything is

RP: i was playing with eva before, remember

AR: Oh. Well hush! Let me feel important! :V

RP: lol

Niko: Follow instructions.

You follow her instructions perfectly, well, as perfect as you can. It takes a few turns on the Cruxtruder to figure out which way to turn it, then you have to captchalogue the Cruxite to carry it, then get it out and blah blah blah. You're lucky you bought the App Modus, it makes the whole thing a lot easier.

151515

You didn't even look at the picture on the pre-punched card, so you are surprised when the Alchemiter creates a large, chocolate brown rectangle. For a quick second you wonder if it actually is chocolate, but after leaning over it to inspect it further it turns out to be reflective. There is large piece of the.. Cruxite Artifact missing, well not missing, just laying off to the side a little. You go to pick it up but are stopped when your phone buzzes. You answer your cousin's message.

151515

AR: Don't touch it!

RP: wha?

AR: Well, I think we should wait till everyone's caught up. Let me pester Eva.

RP: why do i have to wait to put the missing piece in

AR: ...I think messing with the CA is the how to advance in the game. I have to open a cage, you have to put that thing together; they're simple things, and until Eva and Jerk-face are caught up we need to wait.

AR: Kapeesh?

RP: its capiche

AR: Whatever.

RP: okay then

AR: Good.

Kirie: Pester Eva.

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering rejectedArtist [RA] at 21:11 -

AR: Eva? You said it was okay to pester you after 9. Well, now it's 11! lol. I know you're still awake, you stay up til like 4am. :p

**Questions!**

**The only one for now,**

**'What do you think everyone's worlds should be?'**


	16. PREPARE

...**Three words.**

**MY**

**CHARACTER**

**SHEET**

**(*SOB*)**

**Oh my god... No words, just tears. ;_; I have (HAD) a document that I made notes on, plotted the timeline, had certain character aspects with explanations, all kinds of good delicious details that I was (STILL AM) proud of. Unfortunately, apparently the last time I accessed it (just last night) I saved it weird and now its all weird and only comprised of the '#' symbol. I don't have Microsoft Word, instead I use Open Office. **

**The Document says it's restricted by an Unknown User, which is stupid because I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO USES THIS LAPTOP. AND IT HAS A PASSWORD ON IT.**

**Alright, I'm actually not that effected by it. I mean, it was really, REALLY important, but I ain't crying or anything. It just pisses me off. I'll move on, I can manage without it. I'll make a new one. (In the process right now)**

**But STILL, the thing I most am devastated by is the loss of my timelines. It told me when people talked to each other, started downloading Sburb, released their Sprites, entered the Medium, etc. **

***sniffles* Like I said, it was really important to me...**

**Soooo, what this means is I might be a bit scattered with some things. And, I doubt I would've done it anyway, but we (you readers and I) will NEVER EVER talk about what happened before 11pm/23:00 (storywise), in reference to a timeline. I had it all catalogued, but now with the loss of my Character Sheet, I'm starting the new one fresh at 11/23:00. GOT IT? …**

**Reviews (only one):**

**IpadDoodler- Its not that you're a stranger and possibly 50-yr old man, I won't even confide to my friends about it. Well, except for one, who I suppose is my SUPER EXTRA SPECIAL BEST friend. Just know, it didn't hurt me physically (or sexually :/ ((Just clearing that up, if that was an option in your mind)), I've gotten sort of over it, and I'm fine now. Your concern is appreciated. :) (Why do smilies never convey the exact emotion you want? :/ )**

**Yes, back to a story topic. Eventually, I will have to hold another big poll-thing about the worlds. Not for another five chapters or so, though. (sliding towards the topic of Homestuck) Karkles is awesome. C: He probably will appear sometime soon. Mr. Hussie is such a troll, though, that he might not. :/**

**The next chapter is here! :D And yes, I am Amurrican and I have my summer break right now. Though, some schools here probably don't have it. *shrugs* Thanks for reviewing!**

**Also! Trivia:**

Cadeus's TrollTag was originally going to be 'asclepiusCreeper', but I noticed that was AC, like arsenicCatnip.

**OKAY EVERYBODY, READ THE END AUTHOR'S NOTE. AFTER THE STORY, OF COURSE.**

**[PREPARE]**

Eva: Wake up.

You refuse to answer to such an overused command.

Eva: ...Get up?

That's better, but unfortunately you can't. You are currently unconscious, your subconscious being bitched at by alien snake-thing. Let's check on you in the future.

Future Eva: Bitch.

You do so, using your computer. Specifically Pesterchum. Even if the person you are bitching at is in _NO _way your 'chum'. He's an gray alien boy who is severely confused at why you are yelling at him, seeing as how he hasn't done anything. Yet.

161616

RA: So whenever I go to check up on her, like a good friend, she's relaxing in her chair idly playing her DS!

RA: I check around her room, certain she's stuck and needs help,

RA: when I notice things look NOT how they're supposed to!

RA: For one, she prototyped her Sprite!

RA: SPECIFICALLY after I told her not to!

RA: Oh! And she's gotten farther than I have!

RA: There was a card in a sort of slot on the Totem Lathe, and some people Jello thing on the smaller platform of the Alchemiter, and there was a birdcage!

RA: She's betrayed me!

RA: This was MY idea, I invited HER to play MY game and help me start MY universe!

RA: I can't believe it!

RA: I WANTED TO BE THE FIRST TO FIGURE EVERYTHING OUT!

RA: IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME!

RA: NOT HER!

RA: MEEEEE!

RA: …...

RA: WELL?

RA: AREN'T YOU GOING TO ANSWER ME?

Future Cadeus: Answer Future Eva.

You can't, as you are busy half-hiding under your desk-shelf, only allowing the top half of your face to be above it so you can see your computer screen. The human girl, who is now your server, has been practically waxing poetic about how much she hates AR, the human girl that annoys you so much. You are a scared at how fervent in her hate she is, and you are also confused about why a stranger is telling you all about their black feelings.

161616

Esset had shook you out of your meditative state, leading you over to the computer where the screen was showing a [NOW ESTABLISHING CONNECTION] screen. Turns out, a few minutes before, Esset had connected with _another _human girl, and she was going to be your server. When you tried explaining that your last 'relationship' with an Earth female had been less than enjoyable, he gave you _that _look, the one that froze trolls and their lusii in their tracks. You begrudgingly sat down at your chair, and almost fell out of it when not a second later the connection was established and the girl started tossing the three machines down onto your floor.

You were lucking that you didn't have anything that important lying around your respite block, it probably would have been squashed. Unfortunately, the snakes were not as lucky as your items, and several were squished under the machines. RIP _Sssnakesss_.

161616

RA: ...FINE then.

RA: Oh, I'm getting a message from her. So soon?

RA: I would've thought she would still be unconscious after having her mind broken into twice in twenty minutes.

RA: Well, sayonara snake-boy. It's been fun, but I don't want to help you any more.

RA: Your snake-thing knows what to do from here.

- rejectedArtist [RA] ceased pestering panaceaReptile [PR] at 23:11 -

- rejectedArtist [RA] blocked panaceaReptile [PR] -

PR: What did _I_ do? D:B

161616

You tentatively stand up. She seems to have abandoned you, and quite frankly you are more scared than happy right now. You turn around and notice Esset rear himself up. _'What isss he doin-' _**WHUMP. **Esset slams himself down, landing on the Cruxtruder.

161616

Esset and you both flinch backwards from the bright lights it emits, Esset being slammed backwards from the force the machine exerted back against him. You are still blinking and trying to return vision back to your sensitive eyes when Esset brings a card the Cruxtruder released over to you. He firmly guides you over to the Totem Lathe and you insert the card into a slot after some examination. With that done, Esset goes over to the Cruxtruder again and awkwardly turns the wheel until a green cyllindrical object pops out. He brings the 'Cruxite Dowel' (as a message in your head informs you) over to you, and starts the machine. After the Cruxite been shaped into a 'Totem', Esset picks it up and takes it over to the waiting Alchemiter, where it begins to scan the Totem.

Future Cadeus: Grumble.

You feel like a wriggler again, Esset is doing all the work and not letting you help him out, even though this is _your_ game- and HOLY CRAP you are starting to sound like the bratty human girl, RA.

161616

After a moment, a harsh green light appears and when it dims down a small white box is left in it's place. You go to pick it up, nervously shooting a glance at Esset first. He nods, and sinks down, looking more tired than you've ever seen him. You shove that thought out of your head and pick the box up.

Box: Explode.

HAHAHA no. You're sort of important. But, when shaking hands make contact with your surface, you do emit small bursts of green lightning.

Future Cadeus: Drop box.

You almost do, but catch it at the last second. The green lights startled you, but it was harmless. The box starts changing shape in your hands, ridges forming until each side of the box has 9 individual boxes. Then, certain boxes start coloring; green, purple, brown, yellow, all in no specific order.

161616

"What? what'sss happening Esssssset?"

"_I'm not ssure."_

You experimentally twist a face of the box. It moves in a pivotal motion, and after more tries you discover each side moves the same way.

"uhhhh..."

"_It lookss like ssome ssort of puzzzzle. I assssume you have to ssolve it."_

"wow, now that cccertainly sssoundsss exxxccciting, Essset. ...That wasss sssarcasssm."

"_I know, sstupid brat."_

"do I really have to sssolve it?"

"_I don't ssee anything elsse that you can do with thiss game yet."_

"fiiiiine. 8:("

You sit down on the spot, the Alchemiter's large platform. You can already hear the snakes crawling towards you, intent on covering all the surfaces in your block again. Esset slides up next to you and you start twisting the box/cube, trying to figure out the right combination.

Eva: Wake up.

_Excuse you?_

Eva: Get up.

Better. You get up feeling groggy and annoyed. The alien snake-thing has been chewing you out for the past two hours for _'breaking into hiss _**(AN: HA! Geddit, 'hiss' hahaha.) **_mind without permissssion'._You almost regretted doing it after the lecture he gave you, and you almost felt sorry for the alien boy for having to live with the snake.

161616

You make it back to the front desk and collapse ungracefully into the chair. Then, you are flung out of your body and towards Kirie's house. You figure she is probably in need of your help by now, so you might possess her and guide her like that. Once you are spirit-wise in her room, you lightly tether yourself to her consciousness, enough to hear a murmur of her thoughts. She is completely concentrated on her gaming system, mashing buttons wildly.

Eva: Look around room.

One of the corners of the room looks like it has been Revised, and all of the Machines in the Phernalia Registry have been set out. Good. You are impressed that she and her server have gotten this far.

Now, time for you to go bac- hold on. What is _that?_

That: Be the birdcage.

You are the birdcage. And you are also a Cruxite Artifact. Something Eva has not seen yet.

Eva: Flip out.

You do so, slamming your spirit into Kirie's mind and going through her memories. Her mind jerks against your hold, but she isn't nearly strong enough to fight back. Unlike Esset, her mind shuts down and she can't even keep a mental link with you. Pathetic.

As you go through her memories you discover she has disobeyed you and prototyped her Sprite. Which fills your rage meter almost to its capacity.

161616

You feel a familiar presence penetrate her already weak mental barrier, and Esset's spirit joins you in your search. You both peruse Kirie's memories so you see her process to create the Cruxite Artifact. Esset telepathically connects with you and tell you to go and help his own charge.

Esset springs out first, with you close behind him. His spirit goes back to his planet, and you go back the 30 or so miles you are away from the library.

Eva: Furiously connect with Cadeus.

You set up a connection with him and are frustrated when the connection slow and sluggish AND OTHER WORDS THAT MEAN NOT FAST ENOUGH FOR YOU. When the connection is made, you take a quick second to shrink the window down so you can have a Pesterchum window open at the same time. With one hand, you start typing down all the things that Kirie has done wrong, and why you hate her, and with the other hand you start flinging the contents of the Phernalia Registry down in Cadeus's room.

161616

He proves to be an unsympathetic bastard, so when Kirie pesters you you decide to cut your ties with him for now and move on to the main source of your problem. You'll get back to him later.

161616

- adroitRoyalty [AR] began pestering rejectedArtist [RA] at 21:11 -

AR: Eva? You said it was okay to pester you after 9. Well, now it's 11! lol. I know you're still awake, you stay up til like 4am. :p

RA: I'm here. :D

AR: Hey! :) Its 11:11, make a wish, lol!

RA: Ha

RA: ha

RA: HA.

RA: Sorry, I have something to do.

RA: Ciao!

- rejectedArtist [RA] ceased pestering adroitRoyalty [AR] at 23:12 -

- rejectedArtist [RA] signed out at 23:12 -

RA: Eva?

Kirie: Pester Niko to check up on her.

AR: Hey Niko, can you go look at Eva on your computer screen?

RP: ...fine

Niko: Check up on Eva.

She's over near the cluster of machinery, inserting her card into the Totem Lathe's slot. You watch curiously as she does all the things Kirie told you to do, almost in the same order, like she knows exactly what to do. Which, since she seems to know a lot of things, she might.

You notice she is stumbling around, looking like she is in pain. She occasionally touches the back of her head gingerly and winces. You suppose in the time you left her alone she might've injured herself.

161616

RP: shes fine

RP: shes doing all the stuff you told me to do

RP: cept slower

AR: Oh. Okay.

AR: I was just wondering, because when I was talking to her I kind of felt she was mad about something.

RP: she seems fine

AR: Good.

RP: except...

AR: ?

RP: no, its nothing, dont worry

AR: O...kay?

Eva: Place Totem on Alchemiter.

When you do, the arm attached checks the Totem's information before creating or summoning some sort of yellow thing. You move closer, and you realize it is a statue, an angel statue.

Your brain automatically brings up a memory from a time when you were at Kirie's house. She and you were watching one of her favorite shows, a sci-fi called Doctor Who. The episode in question was about the Weeping Angels, beings that only were visible when you were looking at them. The episode had terrified you and her at the time, and you were still iffy around angel statues.

With this memory dug up, you jump back and stare at the statue. And stare and stare and stare. When your eyes feel like they will pop out, you clench them tight and wait for impact. After a second, you glace back, and of course, the angel statue didn't move.

THAT

WAS

STUPID

!

161616

That wasn't the proudest moment of your life. You move closer to the statue and examine it. It is mostly lemon yellow, except for the eyes, which are pitch black. You also notice several parts of it are eroded, and the wings are cracked. You run your finger across its face and are surprised when it comes away smudged with black. You examine the eyes closer and see that they are supposed to be black, they just have dirt or ash or soot or whatever in them.

Eva: Cleanse the eyes.

You stand on your tiptoes and place your thumbs on a different eye. You make a circular motion with them, and grind the grime out. You notice dim light is coming out from the eyes. The more you press, the more light that comes out. When the dirt is all out, you remove your thumbs and are almost blinded by the light that is emitted.

**Just so you know, the next command (in Chapter 20) will be 'Eva: Enter'. :)**

**Hokay, I won't enter the Medium until Chapter 20! Seems like a good place to start what I guess would be my 'Act Two'. ...That's kind of copying and unoriginal. :/ I need a speshul title for each section of my story! *ahem* More on that later, and ANYWAY. The next 3 chapters (17, 18, and 19) will be fillers. I want you to suggest what you want the filler chapters to be about. **

**They could be about anything, my characters' child(/wriggler)hoods, goofy little conversations between characters of your choice, whatever you desire. Maybe you want to see Eva doing soul/spirit-travels (whatever I call them), or maybe you desire to see Cadeus and Esset fighting other trolls and lusii (I've had an idea about him and Vriska having a battle when they were younger; I will explain why if I do that story), or maybe how Cadeus met Kanaya and Nepeta.**

**And, they don't have to be necessarily something that could happen, either at this point in the storyline or at all. If you want to read about Kirie and Cadeus meeting each other in kindergarten, I'm game. If you want to see a cute/not-so-cute moment with Niko and Eva, I'm all for it. **

**Maybe, and this is a tentative maybe, you'd like to see my characters interact with the humans and trolls in Homestuck. Or maybe a character you made. Or maybe a character from a different fandom, just WHATEVER you want. And request as many as you want, I think each idea will get a little drabble, not a full fledged 9 page story.**

**I'm not going to treat the fillers as story-canon, unless it's something like a story about Kirie and Niko playing together when they were younger, something that could and probably did happen.**

**...Sliding over to questions:**

**1. What should everyone's lands be?**

**2. What should each section of my story be divided into? (Arcs, Acts, 'Chapters' ((Like each Chapter is a page in the Chapter (((paradoxy..))), Sections, Parts)**

**3. What do you want to see in a filler chapter?**

**And, one I just thought of:**

**4. Does anything confuse you so far?**

**But, mainly for now answer the filler stuff. :)**

**Buh-bye! ^o^**


	17. FILLER 1 2 3

**Welcome to the first filler chapter! This will be brief! Also, I made a flash for Chapter 20, and I will upload it and link it the day Ch 20 is out. :D**

**Reviews:**

'H'ELO PPL!ARCS!DO THE ARCS!and cadeus's land can be the land of Glares and Scales[logas!]'

**Sorry, but I think you lost out to StBazza's suggestion of 'Tales'. ^^' Sorry… And, Cadeus's land has to be Land of (blank) and Frogs, cuz he's the Space Player. …XD He's a Space Playa.**

**Okay, first Filler, I'm leaving the title till the end. ;D Just cuz.**

Niko: STRIFE.

As much as you hate to, at this moment you kind of have to. You should have seen this ambush coming miles away, the imps hadn't hindered your progress _once_ and you thought it was just a _lucky coincidence._ Because apparently you had also forgotten your brain whenever you forgot to put Hillary's leash on to keep her from running off to do little kid things. So now, she was screaming and crying as an imp dragged her off and dozens of his counterparts swarmed in between the two of you.

F1F1F1

You beat a path through several imps with Les Miseraul and finally get to a clearing. But, as you look around, you realize you are essentially in the eye of the storm. Hundreds, maybe a thousand imps surround you, intent on capturing you, defeating you, or stopping your progress towards Hillary. Or an ungodly mixture of the three.

F1F1F1

If you had enough control over your time powers, you might be able to freeze all of them at the same time, but as you aren't, you can maybe manage two or three. Yeah, that'll help.

You briefly consider going back in time to warn yourself and try to stop Hillary from running off, but you realize this doesn't stop the planned ambush, and they would just attack anyway.

The imp that is carrying Hillary is getting further away, so you freeze him in time. This of course freezes Hillary too, but she doesn't need to see you slaughter all these imps. Or all these imps slaughter you.

With great concentration you use your powers as a Bard to start up a familiar tune. Of course, what kind of Bard would you be if you couldn't start up random music coming from nowhere? ...a NORMAL one.

F1F1F1

The beat from the song will help calm you, and it will also give you something to pace your attacks with.

The imps seem to realize what you are doing and start frantically leaping towards you.

The first one reaches you just as the lyrics start up. You can't help but join in.

F1F1F1

'_I walk a lonely road,_

You smash Les Miseraul against its head, the fragile imp dissolving from the sheer force. Three more take its place.

_The only one that I have ever known,_

They join their brother in Imp Heaven. …Hopefully, you would've hated to send them to Imp Hell.

_Don't know where it goes,__  
><em>_But it's home to me and I walk alone,_

The imps seem to get angry and more and more swarm you. You have to constantly turn around to fight off an approaching side.

A new wave of them attack as the second verse starts.

_I walk this empty street,__  
><em>_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams,_

An imp manages to scratch your left hand, but you just switch the guitar over to your right. A good musician is always ambidextrous.

_Where the city sleeps,__  
><em>_and I'm the only one and I walk alone,_

Two imps attack from your left; you slam Les Miseraul into one's stomach and kick the other in its face. You quickly spin around and block another imp's attack, retaliating by punching it the eye and hitting it with your guitar like a baseball.

_I walk alone,__  
><em>_I walk alone,_

As you sing along, you can't help but think it's ironic that you're singing a song about how 'alone' you are while you are trying to rescue your traveling companion.

Not that it isn't lonely, there's only so much a 15 year old and a four year old can communicate to each other.

_I walk alone,__  
><em>_I walk a..._

You've lost count at how many imps you've slain now. And they just. Keep. Coming!

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me,__  
><em>_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating,_

You wish you could write such amazing lyrics. You also wish the imps would realize it was useless attacking you.

_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me,__  
><em>_'Til then I walk alone,_

So true…. You would even want Eva out here; you could talk about something that wasn't pink, or sparkly, or puppies. You could even fight imps together, though after this if you never see an imp again it will be too soon.

_Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,__  
><em>_Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah,_

You just managed to kill 5 imps with one swing, you're sure that's a personal record.

_I'm walking down the line,__  
><em>_That divides me somewhere in my mind,__  
><em>_On the border line,_

_Of the edge and where I walk alone,_

You probably will be crazy by the end of this game, this is just more strain than a 15 year old can or should take.

_Read between the lines,__  
><em>_What's __**messed **__up when everything's alright,_

For one, you have to fight these stupid creatures, and doing that **every**** single day **should take a toll on your mental health. Not to mention all the stress you get out of it.

And, you glance back at Hillary, you're now a sort of father. Imagine, when she's older she will have so many trust issues and her mind will all sorts of messed up.

The worst thing is that she hasn't even entirely grasped what was going on. She just thought it was all a game, which it technically was, but she didn't realize people were… dead.

_Check my vital signs,__  
><em>_To know I'm still alive and I walk alone,_

You throw yourself into the fray, slashing out wildly at the imps. You feel their dark yellow liquid/blood splash onto you, but at this point you are beyond caring.

_I walk alone,__  
><em>_I walk alone,_

_I walk alone,__  
><em>_I walk a...,_

They screech and slash at you, but you are a cold machine. What are emotions? You can't have any.

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me,__  
><em>_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating,__  
><em>_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me,__  
><em>_'Til then I walk alone,_

The music raises in volumes, belting out painfully to your ears. You adjust your pitch with it.

_Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,__  
><em>_Ah-ah, Ah-ah,_

_I walk alone,__  
><em>_I walk a...,_

With the music solo starting in, you give your voice a rest and focus entirely on the imps, some of which are howling and grasping their ears.

_I walk this empty street,__  
><em>_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams,__  
><em>_Where the city sleeps,__  
><em>_And I'm the only one and I walk a...,_

You whisper out the verse as the imps recover and all rush at once.

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me,__  
><em>_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating,__  
><em>_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me,_

You raise the music as high as you can without hurting yourself and scream along with the lyrics. The imps scream with you, in terror and pain.

_'Til then I walk alone...__'_

Quiet once more. You take a glance around, noting with cold satisfaction you are the only thing moving.

F1F1F1

With that piece of business done, you rush to the other side of the clearing, where Hillary and the lone imp are. You release them from your hold, thanking God it hadn't been broken before. The imp starts running off again, but you stop it with a well aimed smash to the head.

F1F1F1

Hillary continues screaming in terror before realizing you rescued her. Your heart aches when you see with tears running down her face, and you pull her into a hug.

Hillary: Return brother's hug.

Ewww no! He's dirtyyyy!

HC: Nikkiiiiii! You're getting stuff all over my dreeessss! D:

RP: sorry Hill

HC: S'okay. :)

F1F1F1

You giggle before skipping off ahead.

Niko: Follow her.

You do so. She doesn't seem to notice the battlefield behind you, which you suppose is for the best.

You stare at her back and think back the battle. You had done it all for her, but she didn't even realize it. Sometimes it was hard to have to save someone frequently, especially if they never knew and never thanked you.

F1F1F1

HC: Oh! A'most forgot!

She turns around and pulls you down to her level. You watch bemusedly as she leans her head close to yours and gently kisses your cheek. She then blows a raspberry against it and runs off, laughing… like a child.

You wipe your cheek off and grin before going to chase her down.

It had definitely been worth it.

**End of Filler 1: Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Niko Style- as requested by Rotciv557**

'_you should do a part where niko starts singing Green days song "Boulevard of broken dreams" while fighting an army of imps and other enemies a la Kingdom hearts style :]'_

**It wasn't a request for a filler, but I had no idea how to work it in to the main fic. So here you go. :) Also, everyone try to guess 'Les Miseraul's origin. Yes, it is a nonsense word, but try to guess.**

**Start Filler Two: Blood Color- Not requested by anyone, but it could (and SHOULD) have happened in the main storyline.**

PR: SSSo what color isss your blood?

AR: ...Uh, red. -_- And _yours_?

PR: oh wow, that'sss completely opposssite of what I thought! 8:o

PR: i mean, you type in purple, ssso i thought i wasss asssking a ssstupid obviousss quessstion!

PR: not to mention, your tag _isss _adroitRoyalty

AR: You thought I had... _purple _blood?

PR: yeah, um, i'm not judging you, I mean,

PR: ssshit thisss isss a delicate sssubject!

AR: ...wat

PR: i'm sssure if i wasss asss low asss you on the sssyssstem, i'd lie about my color too.

AR: I didnt lie abot anything!1

PR: oh, right, right,

PR: ….um wissshful thinking, huh?

PR: i remember when i wasss younger, i usssed to play highblood, too.

PR: oh, and to anssswer your earlier quessstion, i have green blood.

PR: medium green, not sssure what itsss actual name isss

AR: Dude.

AR: What.

AR: The.

AR: FUCK.

PR: i'm sssorry! i ssswear, i don't think any lessssss of you becaussse of it!

AR: DUDE

PR: why do you keep calling me that?

AR: JUSR

AR: STOP[ TALJING

**And, end! It was short but sweet. :)**

**Poor Cadeus, he just can't catch a break. XD**

**Start Filler Three: (easier to just write the review than give it a title) **'I think a good idea for a filler chapter could be something about Cadeus' dream self pre-SBurb who,(since Cadeus is the space player, if I'm not mistaken) is awake on prospit/derse, if I'm not confrazzled about SBurb constants.' -talesofawesomia

**Believe me; I've had this idea for a looooong time. :) It would've been said in a later chapter, but I might as well get it out of the way now.**

Cadeus: Talk about dreams.

The meditation dreams or the recuperacoon dreams? Oh well, they weren't any different, they were both dreams basically about your past fights.

Subconscious!Cadeus: Think about your wiggler dreams.

When you were just a young troll, you had dreams about this beautiful yellow planet. You could fly, and see yourself in clouds, and did you mention you could FLY? It had been great fun when you were a wiggler; you had your own room, Esset couldn't tell you to clean it even if he tried! You never told Esset about your dreams; they were your secret treasures.

F3F3F3

Of course, all good things must end. And of course, it was by your own hand it ended.

It had been a long night, you and Esset were returning from a killing trip as the accursed Sun rose up. You had done the usual wriggler thing and hung back for as long as you could, whining about how 'couldn't you ssstay out for a little longer pleassse pleassse pleassseeeee?'. Esset, to his credit, was putting up with you well, even though he was bone tired and had stayed out longer because you wanted him too. He ssighed and ssaid it was too late and the Sun would be rising, but you were a stupid wiggler and started complaining even more.

F3F3F3

When your whining finally peaked into full tantrum mode, Esset, quick as a whip, snapped himself towards you. Halfway to you, he seemed to realize what he was about to do, but could only pull himself back a little before his fangs sunk into your skull and narrowly didn't reach your brain.

F3F3F3

From there, you don't remember anything over what was apparently 54 days. You were in a venom induced coma. Luckily Esset had gotten rid of most of his venom from the night's fighting, but it was still enough to paralyze you and almost entirely shut your body down.

F3F3F3

When you woke up, you quickly discovered that by staring intently into something's (in the first case, a snake's) eyes you could hypnotize it. Apparently, when the traces of Esset's venom hit your brain, you absorbed some of his abilities. Yeah, the science behind it was a bit fuzzy, but you weren't complaining. The venom also stopped your brain from connecting to the dream-planet, but it was quickly made alright when Esset started teaching you how to use your 'psssychic abilitiesss'.

Eventually, you completely forgot about the yellow planet.

F3F3F3

After that mishap, you also became intrigued in medicine. You started working on ways to reverse the effects of Esset's venom, instead of paralyzing it would heal and cleanse the wound. You made it into a sort of green gel, and while you hadn't tested any big wounds, it worked on small cuts and scrapes.

That wasn't to say it was without its flaws, a bad batch had permanently dyed your left knee green.

**YES, days are troll time units, they've said them before. Also, LOOK AT ALL MY CORRECT SCIENCE. Derp.**

**End of this filler chapter, don't worry, if your ideas isn't here then I'm doing it next chapter.**

**F1- Could potentially happen.**

**F2- Could've happened. It didn't because I didn't think of it. :'C**

**F3- Happened. Would've been said later on.**

**ALSO! I meant to say this earlier, but I passed the 20,000 word mark! XD I;m past 40,000 now...**

**Questions:**

**1. What should everyone's lands be?**

**2. What do you want to see in a filler chapter?**

**Bye. :)**


	18. FILLER 4 5

**Weeoo! My laptop works again! :DDDDDD Sorry to not have updated in so long, but I should get back on track now!**

**I started this chapter back in August/September-ish, so I had an original author's note written up.**

**Start:**

**Hey party people...**

**I'm not going to waste time with a billion excuses as to why I haven't updated in a month. Just know I'm ashamed I haven't updated in so long. :(**

**Thank you for reviews, watches, favorites, etc. :) It means a lot. Also, random, but my 50th reviewer was JugendFrei, who also guessed that 'Les Miseraul' was a portmanteau of 'Les Miserables' and 'Les Paul'. *clap* Your reward is another chapter. B) Which you get to share with EVERYONE~ Yay~ …sharing IS caring…**

**Replies to Reviews (I will assume that I replied to all users that have an account, if I didn't, I am sorry, and please PM me and chew me out):**

Rotciv557**: …I assume you liked it… XD Servant sounds too demeaning; I will call you an 'idea'. c: Because I am ****inspired**** by my lovely 'ideas'.**

Mighty Whale: **Thank you for enjoying~ **'This story is getting better, and everytime I log in there's like 2 more chapters I can read.' …**Oh, you couldn't of come in at a **_**better**_** time. :( A time when I didn't become a stupid writer who never updates…. Anyway, thank you for liking it.**

undeadHypnotist: **Land of Snakes and Frogs? Duly noted. *nod* I'll add that to the list of possible 'Cadeus lands'. Same for Land of Tunes and Sorrow.**

IPadDoodler: **Ha, I wish I had an evil brother… Or any brother, all I have is a sister. :I And, thank whatever; there have been no family deaths this year. I had 5, yes ****5****, of my family members die last year. :( The first (and closest to me) was my great uncle who died on New Years night (around 1 AM-ish). Imagine how that was, waking up to that news for the new year… Not to mention, I had a friend over, and bursting into tears in front of her didn't exactly make her feel any better about the situation. I don't know which is worse; being the one to be told that your family member is dead, or being the friend that has to sit there as your friend cries into her blanket. :(**

**And, we have New Year's parties at my grandma's (who conveniently lives right next door to me), and all my cousins and uncles and aunts were over, so my friend to be awkward in a whole group of mourning people.**

***cough* Anyway, I'm not looking for sympathy, so I shouldn't go into these long rants…. …God, my reply to your review is LONG. XD**

**Your fillers should be in the next chapter… *sigh* There were a lot! But thank you anyway!**

**Also, my cousin sent me a text like: 'Hi (iC) :3 are you on the bus?' and 'It's okay :s maybe another time :s'. And to myself I was like 'Niko and Eva's love child? D8'. Lol, it just made me giggle to myself… Because he just started texting like that recently, at the beginning of August. :D**

**CHAPTER START**

4. frigidPyro – 'Filler has to be cadeusssssss visiting the other trolls hives like I suggested. YOU MUST DO IT! Also a random filler where they all play minecraft or something, pointlessly' **Okay then!**

**4.1 Minecraft idea first (told in Kirie POV, words spoken aloud) (also, forgive me for my limited knowledge on the mechanics of Minecraft, my laptop doesn't allow me to play games, and most of this filler is actually based on a real event with my own cousins):**

Kirie: Sigh.

You do as such and shift in your wooden chair, watching your cousins mess around on the computer. Your mom had dropped you off to spend the day at your cousins', and while usually it was great fun, today they were engrossed in their game.

TS: Get younger cousin's attention.

You pull her chair closer and ignore her startled yelp.

F4.1F4.1F4.1

KK: Travis! Don't DO thaaat! D:

TS: Pay attention! I'm trying to show you this game.

NS: its pretty cool, you should watch :/

KK: *scowl*

Kirie: Watch.

You observe as your older cousin moves his extremely stiff character around the house he's constructed.

TS: Alright, now we'll do the fun part.

KK: Joy.

F4.1F4.1F4.1

You watch as he logs of his world and then logs onto a server.

TS: I have to get clearance to edit the world. *****

KK: ….Okayyyyy?

Travis types in some kind of codeword, and he gets transported to a place where other players are running around. You notice several different structures, some of them deserving a little bit of credit, as they looked pretty cool even with the terrible graphics.

KK: What do you do now? : ?

Your cousins exchange evil grins and Travis moves his player towards a large tower nearby.

TS: Now…

TS: We grief.

F4.1F4.1F4.1

You watch in fascination as your cousin command his character to destroy the tower, taking large chunks out as he moves up the stairs.

You grin as well as the apparent builder of the tower cusses your cousin out via message box. Now, _this _looked like fun.

F4.1F4.1F4.1

For the rest of the afternoon, your cousin succeeds in much destruction, griefing, and trolling. He gets kicked out several times, but always finds a new server to rein doom upon. Niko takes his turn too, and prefers to attack the buildings when the builder is almost done with construction, maximizing the builder's frustration.

You of course get a turn, but you mostly spend your time looking at al, the pretty buildings. You do attack a makeshift church, and are harshly reprimanded by your cousins.

KK: It's not a real church!

TS: It doesn't matter! It's still disrespectful!

KK: And destroying other buildings isn't?

F4.1F4.1F4.1

When your mom returns to retrieve you, it is with a heavy heart you say goodbye to your cousins, and they promise to play again the next time you come over.

In the car, when you mom asks you what you did the whole day, you grin and tell her:

KK: It was really sad, I was griefing all day.

***Something like that, right?**

**And yes, I know the proper way to spell it is 'grieving'. *cough* This story was sort of based on actual events, I watched my younger cousin play Minecraft. :D If you ever play and run into 'TheBookShelf', that's him, but if you do, don't tell tell him you met 'iC', he'll have no idea what you're talking about. And for God's sake, don't link him back here. D:**

4.2- Visiting **(This one really doesn't make sense, because I think at this point the hives would be in Sgrub, but, eh, whatever. If I get any locations of the hives wrong, do forgive me. And and and, these will brief, I can't drag them on too long.)**

**Sort of set in Chapter 14ish, before Cadeus starts meditating, but once again, this is not a 'canon' part of the story.**

Cadeus: Explore colorful hive.

You and Esset had decided to do a bit of _exxxploring_ before heading back to your hive, as it seemed all the beasts that had hindered your progress were gone. You had the whole night, so you might as well look around.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

Anyway, you and Esset were staring in awe at the hive you had stumbled upon; the strange building had two spheres resting on towers, with colorful sails billowing in the wind.

You recognized the building from your childhood, you had visited _Missssss Maryam _here, but she seemed to be gone. Her lusus was gone as well.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

Esset slides up to the entrance of the hive, you close behind. He squeezes through the _ssslightly too sssmall ssspaccce _and goes ahead to make sure there isn't anything lying in wait. You scootch past him up the stairs, where you know Kanaya's respiteblock is located.

Cadeus: Reminisce.

As you walk into the block, you are hit with a wave of nostalgia.

?.?.?

Miss Maryam stands near her recuperacoon, rubbing the slime out of her eyes. She's covering her naked body with a large red piece of cloth. She makes a sleepy gesture you to turn around while he changes. You comply; glad to have a chance to hide your bright-green cheeks.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

That was the first time you met Kanaya, and while she didn't hate you, she didn't really like you either. You take one last long look at the brightly clothed room before sprinting down the stairs and out of the hive. She might not have liked you, but you like her a lot…

F4.2F4.2F4.2

Esset falls in stride with you as you walk away, heading towards some mountains off in the distance.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

After a bit of walking, you hike up the mountain to where a large castle sits forebodingly. Another castle similar in structure is nearby on another mountain, part of it collapsed so it conveniently makes a bridge across the gap between the two castles.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

The first castle is interesting, lots of stairs, but quite a beautiful structure. You and Esset examine a large blue smear in a pit, Esset recognizing the color but not being able to remember the lusus.

'_We fought, I know that much. It wass just a girl, I assssumed her lussuss wass dead. Oh, you won, now I remember! SShe curssed uss ass sshe ran away.*'_

'Ah…. Nope, I wouldn't remember sssomething like that. It happened ssso much…"

F4.2F4.2F4.2

You leave after that, deciding not to check out the resident's respiteblock. You carefully walk over the crumbling makeshift bridge, Esset waiting until you had made it unscathed to the other side before attempting his own journey across. You both walk into hive, expecting another impressive structure.

….You quickly walk back out, after seeing the …_artwork_… hanging on the walls.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

Soon after the mountains, there is a beach. You and Esset walk down it, listening to the dull roar of the ocean. Soon, you make it to a solitary hive that is almost dangerously close to the shoreline.

The hive is open; there isn't even a door to the thing. It smells sickly sweet, like sopor slime and some kind of soda mixed together. You glance at the odd posters before heading down the shore again.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

You come across a cliff, and go up a convenient ramp on the side. The hive has a pretty windmill on top, but other than that it seems less extravagant than the ones you've seen before. You decide to examine this person's respiteblock, maybe you'll find something cool.

F4.2F4.2F4.

…And you find a nerd paradise. Pfft, they played _Fidussspawn. _Jeez, how pathetic was that? And on the walls are posters of _fairiesss, _which aren't even real. The only thing that is mildly interesting is the ramp up to their recuperacoon, which they probably used to dive in or something.

You kick one of the plushes lying on the floor in the face before leaving the hive and going east.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

After going another distance without seeing anything, you branch off and go towards the flatlands.

The only thing you find is a ruined and decomposing hive, covered in vines. There's no point in examining it, so you continue you on to the green towers in the distance.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

The green towers have several different hives attached to them, and there's far too many to explore tonight. You begin to feel a bit frustrated, as you haven't found anything interesting since the girl-that-you-fought-with's hive.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

You skip right past a large collection of hives, once again, there were too many to explore tonight. You do notice one in particular, as it has bright red pieces of cloth hanging on it.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

It takes you forever to find anything interesting again; the moon is getting awfully low by this point and you and Esset are both anxious.

The next setting you run into is an eye bleeding-pink and blue forest. Sure it's pretty, but it practically glows in the dark. You don't even dare to glance up at the neon pink leaves, afraid your retinas would sear at the brightness of the color.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

After making it out of the eye-scream forest, you come across another mountain range. It is with great joy you figure out it is the mountains near your hive; they were just opposite of the way you went on this journey.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

You and Esset break into a run, trying to beat the sun before it rises. However, after making your way up the mountain, it become increasingly obvious you will be toasted by the time you make it home. So, instead the two of you dash into an open cave, heading in as far as you can.

F4.2F4.2F4.2

Once in the back, the two of you stop to rest and check out your surroundings. Esset's tongue flicks out as his white eyes rove over the walls of the cave.

_'It tasstess faintly like death. The rockss over there indicate a cave-in. I assssume a troll and their lussuss lived here before. It doessn't matter anyway, there'ss nothing living anywhere nearby.'_

F4.2F4.2F4.2

Since there is a lack of sopor slime around, you decide to meditate while Esset looks for signs of other mental activity.

The day is done, night falls, and you go home.

**THE END**

***I got the story from Wikipedia: '**Aratus describes Ophiuchus as trampling on Scorpio with his feet.' **I've been thinking about it for a long time. :D A better sign for Cadeus would probably be Serpens, but Serpens didn't have as good history.**

5- StBazza-

' A possible encounter in a bar between two or more of your characters (fully grown obviously), years after the events of the story.' **Can do, but don't assume any of this is 'canon'. It's not, because I don't know how the story will end. Or what happens to players after they complete Sburb. Also, I ****had to do research for this filler, and I will probably capitalize things that don't need to be capitalized.**

**(Eva POV, with first initial, last initial instead of chumhandles)**

Eva: Hail bartender.

He responds quickly, not having many other customers to deal with in the dimly lit bar. It's almost 4 AM, so the partiers have all headed home in drunken stupors, the last group just now leaving in a loud and tired manner.

The bartender asks what you want calmly, if he's frustrated at the sounds the drunkards are making then he's not showing it.

ES: I'll take a Velvet Hammer, if you please :)

The bartender quirks an eyebrow at this, and you assume he doesn't get orders for VHs much. Most of the groups that visit the bar drink vodka with coke or cheap beer. He turns away to retrieve some bottles, seemingly happy for a challenge.

F6F6F6

After a few moments he presents you with mixture of Triple Sec, White Creme de Cacao, and Light Cream in a cocktail glass. You mouth thank you and take a pleasant sip of the drink. You and the bartender, who you learn is named Peter, converse for a few minutes, the two of you trying to fill the slightly awkward silence.

F6F6F6

Your conversation is stopped when another patron comes in and walks up to bar-stool next to you.

"A White Cloud, with Grey Goose."

The bartender hurries away, apparently in no mood to annoy the woman with the frustrated voice. You glance up at her, and can only see her blonde curls covering her face as her head is bent. She has on a long, black, unbuttoned coat and dark blue jeans, and in the waistband of her jeans there is a bulge, like she's concealing a gun. She turns her head when she goes to sit down and you both freeze when you see the others faces.

You see the purple eyes first. They aren't exactly hard to notice. But as your mind races you take in the freckles and surly disposition and realize, with a jolt, that it's _Kirie. _Her eyes are opened wide and she stutters unintelligibly, staring at the lower portion of your face (which is still covered by ((slightly longer)) bangs) and your choker.

KK: E-e-eva?

ES: Hey :)

ES: Long time no see, huh ;) How have you been :?

KK: …

Kirie gets misty-eyed and you take pity on her and stand up, hugging her in the process. She wraps her arms around you and lets out a shaky breath.

KK: I've missed you...

F6F6F6

For the rest of the evening you talk animatedly. And even though a great deal of laughter is shared, there is one dark topic you avoid: Sburb.

F6F6F6

You find out Kirie is a traveling ornithologist, studying birds from all over the world.

ES: REALLY? XD

ES: That is hilarious! :D

KK: Well, not really. :/

KK: I mean, I originally wanted to study anthropology, but then I met Dr. Dietrich, another ornithologist, and he completely blew me away with this speech on the common house finch. I was hooked!

KK: I've always loved birds. :3

ES: Yeah, I know :]

ES: Speaking of which, where is Piggen? :?

KK: …

KK: Pigeons don't live too long.

F6F6F6

On that awkward and slightly depressing note, you asked, hesitantly, where Niko was.

KK: Oh.

KK: He's... around...

KK: ...somewhere...

KK: :(

ES: Oh... :(

KK: He left without a word; no note, no phone call.

KK: Nothing.

KK: Hillary was crushed.

KK: He stayed for a few days, and then took off and left her with me.

KK: I think he just needs a while to think, he's taken care of her since... you know... and he's had to serve as a parent to her ever since.

ES: That is right. How long has it been?

KK: ...10 years...

ES: Then Hillary is the age we were, back when it started.

ES: Right?

KK: …

KK: Yeah.

She coughs and rushes out her next sentence.

KK: have you seen Cadeus lately?

You smirk at her uneasiness. She seems worried, but you can't tell if it's the common bond that you all (the Sburb players) share or something else.

ES: No. B)

F6F6F6

The troll boy had been awed at the Earth.

Soon after the game ended, it had spit all of you back out onto your planet, leaving the troll boy stranded. He took it in stride, declaring he wanted to see _everything._

Since then, you hadn't seen him in person. He sent postcards, letters, and an occasional gift, telling you guys excitedly all that he had found on your planet. It was weird how he kept finding all of you, even when you moved away, but maybe it was his weird space powers. Anyway, he would usually send a letter congratulating you on your move with information that he knew about the region.

But lately, after you moved around a couple of times, you didn't receive anything.

It was mildly worrying, but you assured yourself that he had his stick and his giant snake so he would be alright. Kirie, it seemed, didn't think so.

F6F6F6

KK: *bites lip* Oh... Okay...

ES: He will be fine, do not fret! :)

KK: Okay...

And the conversation carried on.

F6F6F6

Kirie talked about how Hillary had started going to school (she had been home-schooled by Niko for all her life), started her sophomore year and actually _liked it. _(KK: Ironic, huh? Both me and Niko hated highschool, and she freaking loves it.) There was more talk, stuff about friendly neighbors and helpful coworkers and adorable children and the like. It was all pleasantly normal and mundane, and you felt a sense of relief and happiness for Kirie.

And then she got into the wham topic. (Besides Sburb, you mean.)

F6F6F6

KK: Yeah, Mrs. Delanie and I shared a good laugh about that afterwards. :)

ES: Hahaha XD I cannot believe no one confronted you about it! CX

KK: Ha, well Niels said that we should have told the Williams about _before _they opened the door, but he laughed all the same.

KK: He's got a great sense of humor, even if he's a bit of a stiff.

KK: But hey, that's what I love about him~ ^w^

ES: …...

ES: ….Excuse me?

ES: Did you say 'love'?

KK: Oh yes! I suppose I didn't really say anything about him!

KK: Niels Dietrich is the ornithologist who got me into the field of ornithology.

KK: He's 4 years my senior, and is a polite, slightly snarky, intelligent man.

KK: We're engaged~

ES: …...

ES: …...

ES: Jesus tits.

KK: I guess that's the 'sort of appropriate' response.

KK: Good thing I found you, huh? I wanted you to be a bridesmaid. :)

KK: Lu is my MOH, and Hillary, Mallory, and Mallory's girlfriend are my bridesmaids. You can join in if you like. :)

ES: …

F6F6F6

You stand up abruptly. Kirie sends you a surprised and curious look over the rim of her 3rd White Cloud. You stare at her in shock and anger and grind out.

ES: How can you act _normal_?

She looks confused.

KK: Everything I've told you up to this point has been 'normal'! Why does me getting married cross the line?

ES: Because!

KK: Because _why_?

ES:Do you not remember Sburb? How terrified we were?

KK: Of c-course I do, d-dipshit!

KK: B-but it's-s been t-ten years! G-get over i-it!

F6F6F6

Kirie's mad now, her explosive temper flared, and she's stuttering with rage like she used to.

How can she not realize that settling down and having a quiet, boring life is not an option for a Sburb player? You clench your fists and glance back down at Kirie's waist. The gun-like bulge on the side of her pants had turned out to be her trusty boomerang. See? She couldn't forget about Sburb and the harsh battles, and that was why she couldn't get married!

KK: Jesus! You're just as dysfunctional as you were back then!

F6F6F6

That is the last straw. You turn and huff away, the hem of your dress swishing behind you. You hear Kirie shift and think she's going to follow you, but instead you hear her mutter to Peter that she'd pick up the tab. Bitterly disappointed, you slam the bar door open and walk out into the street.

Kirie might be able to try to forget about Sburb and pretend that everything is normal, but you can't.

**Also by StBazza (in a PM):**

'Had another idea for a fill in piece. Treat it as though the story is a movie and bring all the characters on to a talk show where they are asked questions about their experience making it. You know the usual questions, why you tried for the role, what was your reaction when you found out that y`ou got the part, your favourite moment while filming, what they intend to do with themselves once it is done.'

**I want to do this, but I'd like some help with the questions. :D Submit ones that pertain to this filler, if you have anything.**

**Don't submit any more filler ideas. I'll finish Chapter 19 whenever and leave a placeholder in the spot it will go in. Kay? Feedback please!~**


	19. FILLER BLAH NUMBERS

Place holder!

:B


	20. ALL: ENTER

**Old AC still below:  
><strong>

**Alright... THIS is not a filler chapter. This is... Chapter 20.**

**Some of you may be completely and totally confused, but, I shall explain:**

**About a week ago, I started working on Chapter 18 (and yes, I have a multitude of excuses for the hiatus, but that's not the point) and was super pumped, writing up a storm. I even told a few people that I would have it up the next day. And...**

_My fucking laptop's charger port broke._

**Whether or not you believe me (it is quite far-fetched), it doesn't matter. My laptop's battery ran out, so I couldn't access and finish Chapter 18. :/ I was mad, but I didn't let it get to me. My dad can fix it, but what he said is: "I won't fix it until you annoy me enough that I do it to shut you up." *facepalm* I don't WANT to bother him, though. :( He'll fix it within the next... month? Sure..**

**Yeah, so I decided to post Chapter 20 (which I'm writing on my sister's laptop), because I've left you guys for so long. I'll upload Chapter 18 when my laptop is fixed, and then in turn Chapter 19. But, they'll be chapter '19' and '20'.**

**Anyway, I need to shut this author's note down! Okay, um, you may notice** (time) **in the story, that's because I need to check my Character Sheet (on my laptop...) and I'll come back and change it one day.**

**...Here's what I have to say about Chapter 20:**

**The famed chapter 20 (HAHA YEAH) is here. All will enter, and the game shall truly start. ..**

**...**

**Can I get a 'what-what'!**

**WOOOO! Hello everyone, this is Chapter 20 (ha...), AKA the end of Tale One! It may seem a bit short, but its supposed to be just the moment they enter the Medium.**

**Also, if you notice that Kirie swears a lot more later in the chapter, it's because she swears under pressure.**

**CHAPTER 20 START**

_Eva: Cleanse._

_You stand on your tiptoes and place your thumbs on a different eye. You make a circular motion with them, and grind the grime out. You notice dim light is coming out from the eyes. The more you press, the more light that comes out. When the dirt is all out, you remove your thumbs and are almost blinded by the light that is emitted._

The time is 23:20.

Eva: Shield thine eyes.

You squint at the light for a second behind your bangs, but ultimately turn your head away from the harsh light. As it washes over you, you feel a slight sense of... calm. Your mind clears, and for once in your life you aren't thinking about what your duties are.

It's nice.

202020

You let out a genuine smile as the light seems to accept and envelop you.

202020

_"do I really have to sssolve it?"_

"I don't ssee anything elsse that you can do with thiss game yet."

_"fiiiiine. 8:("_

_You sit down on the spot, the Alchemiter's large platform. You can already hear the snakes crawling towards you, intent on covering all the surfaces in your block again. Esset slides up next to you and you start twisting the box/cube, trying to figure out the right combination._

Cadeus: Solve.

It takes FOR FRIKKIN EVER, but you manage to figure the damn thing out. The two white sides are opposite each other, like a top and bottom. The sides of the puzzle go in different colors, starting with green: green (to the right) purple (to the right) brown (to the right) yellow (to the right) back to green. You only have one more twist left, and the puzzle will be COMPLETELY solved.

Praise Troll Jesus.

202020

You twist it into place, a small shock of energy going into you. You stare in awe as the sides of the box emit sharp strands of green light, it being absolutely breathtaking and terrifying.

202020

On the box, breaking through the light, is the shape of a creature that makes your heart stop. A snake-huntingbeast, or by its proper name, the mongoose.

The lightning like tendrils shoot upwards, covering you and dragging you into space.

202020

The last thing you feel is your hands desperately grabbing Esset as you are wrenched away from each other, and then

_green._

202020

_You didn't even look at the picture on the pre-punched card, so you are surprised when the Alchemiter creates a large, chocolate brown rectangle. For a quick second you wonder if it actually is chocolate, but after leaning over it to inspect it further it turns out to be reflective. There is large piece of the.. Cruxite Artifact missing, well not missing, just laying off to the side a little. You go to pick it up but are stopped when your phone buzzes. You answer your cousin's message._

_151515_

_AR: Don't touch it!_

(Earlier conversation from Chapter 16)

RP: she seems fine

AR: Good.

RP: except...

AR: ?

RP: no, its nothing, dont worry

AR: O...kay?

The time is 23:02.

Niko: Ponder.

Maybe you should've told Kirie about Eva being hurt. It _was_ the human thing to do, but at the time you couldn't find a reason to care.

Now, about 22 minutes later, after you and Kirie had a heart to heart about school, girls/boys, and your family, you felt relaxed and ready to continue on your game. You had minimized the screen with a viewport of Eva, if she didn't care about your game then you didn't care about hers.

Niko: Talk about... heart to heart?

Hey, it's plenty manly.

No, you didn't really care what people thought of you for spilling all your feelings with your cousin. It was a random, and slightly inappropriate time, but you and her had made a pact years ago that you would always listen to the other if they had something to say.

The pact_ had_ been signed in spit, and those kind of contracts are hard to break.

Niko: Get back on topic!

Right, you're supposed to be texting you cousin now, coaxing her to open her bird cage. The shard of chocolate brown reflective glass pulses warmly in your hand, and you are tempted to just go ahead and stick the piece back in its original spot.

202020

But NO, you have to convince Kirie that the bird isn't going to kill her first. That's what good cousins do, and you try to be the best cousin you can be!

AR: Arghhh! I can't do it! ToT

Maybe you should set a pot of tea to boil.

202020

RP: sure you can

AR: I can't!

RP: you can

RP: i've seen you pet a frikkin OSTRICH

AR: That's different!

RP: how? all you have to do is OPEN A CAGE

RP: when you were little great aunt susie had to padlock her parakeet cage because every time you came over there you tried to open it :/

RP: whats so different now, besides NOTHING

AR: I'M SCARED AND I DON'T KNOW WHY! DB

AR: Are you happy now? T~T

RP: ecstatic

RP: ...

AR: T_T

RP: Ky... Just come on. Please? I'll be here every step of the way, if you need me I'll be right here.

RP: now come on, reach for the birdcage, but keep an eye on your computer

RP: on three

RP: 1

RP: 2

RP: 3!

Niko: Mend.

You slip the piece of loose glass into the mirror, which you propped up against the wall earlier. With your reflection now being complete, you can see your face. Which, seems to be starting to get covered by brown light, the light peering out from under where the piece was pressed in.

It's starting to shoot out in sort of a wall, the sides curving around you.

202020

You stand stock-still as you watch where the only piece of reflective material stands, and it is mostly reflecting your mouth. As you watch, the mirror-you's lips curve into a smile, and suddenly the light blinds you as your body is zapped somewhere far, far way.

The time is 23:28.

_Kirie: Open cage._

_You are about to do so, but you hesitate. You are... scared of the bird, which is a first for you. You've seen falcons and eagles and herons and cranes and even an ostrich (from the zoo), and you've always impatiently waited until you could touch them, your glee almost getting the best of you. But this cute little dove, what if it's supposed to be caged for a **reason**?_

Kirie: Self-loathe.

You couldn't do it. The countdown had been too short, and on three you couldn't bring yourself to grab the cage. And of course, you didn't know why. You just felt like something BIG was going to happen, and you weren't quite sure you were ready for it.

202020

You glance at the clock on the Alchemiter. (minutes) remain. You think you've figure out what the countdown is for, roughly.

Earlier on, you had been checking in on your E-mail. As you did, you noticed a breaking news headline on the news section. It had simply said 'Meteors Strike-'. Curious, you had checked it out.

202020

You wished you hadn't. The article was about how a large group of meteors had appeared out of nowhere, on a direct path for the Earth. Several places had already been hit, such as Washington, and Texas, and New York.

202020

The news shocked and horrified you. You had begun writing Niko a message instantly, telling him to get on a computer ASAP, but at the last second before hitting Enter you stopped. What good would it do, it would only freak him out.

It was with a heavy heart you backspaced your message and instead struck up a deep conversation with him, so hopefully your last memories of him would be good ones.

202020

It wasn't like you to get all depressed 'n stuff, but, dammit, there were fucking METEORS on a flight path towards you. And according to the Alchemiter, you only had (minutes) to live. Fan-FUCKING-tastic.

You just wanted to crawl into your bed and cry until the meteors came... But, you weren't going to die without opening that goddamn cage.

202020

If you died scared of something, then you hope you would get sent to the deepest pits of hell for cowardice, especially over a FUCKING BIRD CAGE. On one hand, you had your rage that wanted to yank that motherfucker open, but on the other, dominant hand, you were scared shitless by the the thing.

Kirie: Hurry!

You yank on your hair, pulling it out from its ponytail. You tug on your clothes in frustration. You yell and hit yourself, trying to work up the nerve. Your arm reaches towards the cage door, slowly getting closer and closer...

Kirie: Liberate.

You grab the cage door and pull it open as fast and hard as you can. The dove lets out a high note before flying free, directly at your face.

202020

You scream, but instead of the bird slamming into you, brilliant, dazzling purple light flies over you, sort of picking you up along with it.

You float in the beautiful light and laugh at the exhilarating feeling, before being pulled over to the other side.

The time is 23:34.

202020

Kylie King,

Cadeus Penser,

Eva Stawitz,

Niklaus Smith,

_Welcome to the Medium._

_End of Tale One: __**TALE OF FOUR PLAYERS**_


	21. ERROR

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN**  
><strong>Kill me if you want. I couldn't access a computer very much at all for the past month, my dad hasn't fixed my laptop, and he' s busy with repair work on our house. I don't want to bother him, so you guys are just going to have to hate me during these long pauses. :(<strong>

**As for the fillers... I'll post them some other time. I had about half of 'em written, but they were on my laptop. -_- Yeah. I'm not re-writing them, and if you submitted an idea, don't worry, I'll make it up later. Just don't submit any more filler ideas, please...**

**Anyway:**

**Wow. 80 The end of Act 5 Flash was stunning!**  
><strong>I wanna gush about it, but I'm not sure if everyone's seen it. So, go watch it, because there is one spoiler I literally have to talk about. And if you aren't caught up yet, why are you even reading fanfiction?<strong>  
><strong>Don't worry, I'll have a spoiler thingy separating it from the rest of the Author's Note.<br>**  
><strong><span>xSPOILERx<span>**

All the kids are god-tiers now. I'm not sure if the trolls will become god-tiers too (Mr. Hussie has done stranger things), but if it is a game constant I'll need to re-think some things.  
>Remember back in Chapter 13, when it was showing glimpses of the future? And Kirie was fighting the Giclops, and kind of lost? Yeah, my original plan was for her to die. Hold on, she wouldn't have stayed dead. There would have been some corpse-smooching shenanigans and she would have come back to life as her dreamself.<br>Yep.  
>The fact now is that the kids are all G-Ts and depending on how I want this story to end, (good or bad), I'll figure out everything. Hopefully Mr. Hussie will give us more information before I get that far. -v-' He gave us some information on his tumblr, but it's still confusing.<p>

**xSPOILERx**

**Okaaay. Um...**

**I'm going to have to leave Chapter 20 in its rough state for now.**

**Oh, and if you follow my other story (Hauslodged), know I'm working on that too. I just wanted to update this first because I've left you guys for so long.**

**I'm not going to give a set time for any updates, because I usually don't manage to update them at that time. V_V**

**This chapter is weird... The characters aren't even mentioned, instead a new minor will be introduced... intheformofaselfinsert. Yeah.**

**Chapter 21 START! (it's technically 18, but IDGAF)**

**[ERROR]**

At the same time, in a distant planet...

A white carapace leans out over a balcony on her tower, surveying her wonderful planet of Prospit with happy-squinted eyes. She is the Insipid Columnist, journalist for the 'Prospit Inquirer'. She is wearing a purple cloak that covers everything but her eyes and ankles. Some of her neighbors scorn her attire, as she doesn't wear the Prospitan yellow (instead preferring a color that is associated with Derse), and thankfully it isn't against the law.

THANK THE QUEEN.

IC: Explain.

Well, you love your purple cloak... You made it yourself, so it's lumpy and too big, but it's damn comfortable and you've grown fond of your creation. So you see, it would really suck if you couldn't wear it.

You glance down at your fellow Prospitians, who are happily milling about, on their way to homes and jobs and maybe even the court. You spot a mail carrier and watch as he delivers a letter to the residence across from you.

Prospit is peaceful, as it has always been.

IC: Do something.

Uh, okay?

You stretch and survey the tops of the buildings around a couple other people are on their balconies, and one adventurous soul is climbing across the rooftops. Near your home is one of the towers that are located at points around the planet. You lean further out and place your head in your hands, sighing dreamily. You've always wondered what the deal with the two towers is. Nobody, except maybe the monarchs, know what they are for, and trespassing on them is illegal.

IC: Freeze.

What? What are you-

The ground shakes and you see a strange light before freezing in time.

**Something is wrong.**

212121

_Flash forward several years in the future._

The Inspired Critic sits at her station, watching four screens. She frowns as the screens suddenly glitch and freeze.

212121

[Error] boxes are on two of the screens, and she worriedly checks her notes, afraid she did something wrong. Her eyes skim the papers, and she lets out a small groan as she notices the inconsistency. She glances back at the two screens, and slams her head on the desk as she tries to think of a solution.

212121

After several snack breaks, the iC returns trimphant!

iC: Prototype Niko and Cadeus's Kernelsprites to their first tier.

You hate to do author-meddling, but you completely forgot about one detail.

All the player's Sprites are supposed to be prototyped at least once before going into the Medium. Eva and Kirie already prototyped theirs, but Niko and Cadeus haven't. Time to meddle.

iC: Connect to Esset.

Well, not so much connect as 'control'. You control the PastEsset, from a while before Cadeus entered, and make him move away from Cadeus.

The troll boy barely looks up, too busy with the puzzle.

212121

Esset (under your control) goes out into one of the many corridors, where the kernel sprite floats. It didn't follow Cadeus back in, instead preferring to be alone.

One of the many snakes lies dead nearby, having crawled out and only died recently. Esset slides his tail towards the snake and flicks it with his tail tip. The tiny snake soars into the Sprite, and the familiar lights flash in green and white.

212121

The snake had been a viper, so its sleek form is now white, accented by green.

212121

With that piece of business done, you guides Esset back to Cadeus, and release your control.

You then turn your attention towards Niko's screen.

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This will be a bit harder. You can't just simply control someone to prototype Niko's Sprite, you first has to use the Appearifier to send the item to Niko's house. And you have the perfect item to send...

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The coordinates are a bit hard to put in, but after fiddling around you figure them out. As the screen locks in on the Smith house, you rummage around in a box titled 'Reviews' and discover a wrapped object with 'toa' on it. After unwrapping it, a cube is revealed. Not just any cube, a Companion Cube! ...plush.

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_Fast Foward_

iC puts the plush on the pedestal, and then appearifies it to Niko's little sister's room, where the Sprite is hanging around very creeper-like. The cube falls on Hillary's peaceful sleeping face, effectively half waking her. She tosses the cube away sleepily, and it hits the Kernelsprite dead on. Hillary is then awoken by the bright white and brown flashes, and watches in childish fascination as the Sprite's prototyping finishes. It is left as white cube with a sort of train hanging down from it. It is outlined in brown, with an orange heart on the sides.

_Resume_

212121

iC is satisfied, finally. She glances back at the screens and is pleased to see the ERROR messages are gone and they're working again. Weeoo.

She continues on.

**Questions:**

****1. What should everyone's lands be?****


	22. OHGODWHAT

**JUST FORGET WHAT I ASKED LAST CHAPTER. I UPDATED IT WITH AN EASIER EXPLANATION. SO GO BACK AND READ IT.**

**T_T Sorry for either getting your hopes up or confusing you.**

**Anyway, I have a tumblr now. :D inspiredcritic (dot) tumblr (dot) com.**

**Ask me or my characters anything (anon questions are enabled). Do I sound stupid or conceited, thinking that people would care about it? :( I worry that you guys will think its stupid. V_V But now I sound like I'm fishing for compliments, don't I?**

Chapter 22 START!

[OHGODWHAT]

Everyone:

When the lights fade, you see something. The Kernelsprite splits apart, right in half. Half of it is white, the other half being black. The halves go in opposite directions, leaving behind a shining figure.

What do you see?

Kirie:

When you pick yourself off the ground, having fallen somehow, the figure flies up right in front of you. You fall back again.

The figure... Well, it looks like a white Pepsi bottle, outlined in purple, with a white ghost tail. PepsiSprite makes unintelligible fizzing noises at you.

Cadeus:

You are confused, you never prototyped your Kernelsprite with anything, yet there is one of your snakes prototyped in. The ViperSprite snake peers back at you and hisses curiously.

Esset responds with his own hiss and you feel kind of left as they converse back and forth.

Eva:

The PillowSprite just kind of floats in front of you. No noise, just the occasional bob up and down.

You frown.

This is kind of boring.

Niko:

Hillary giggles as she runs around the CompanionCubeSprite. You wonder why the Sprite is prototyped, you don't even have a Companion Cube plush.

But there one is, floating as a Sprite in your living room. Oh well, there's more important things to worry about. Like,

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Kirie: Freak out.

What? Why would you freak out? You're kind of confused about why there was bright lights and shaking, but you're not freaked out.

You ponder this as you walk over to your window.

222222

You just need to rationalize. What could have happened? Maybe the meteors didn't hit near you? Maybe it was a minor earthquake? Maybe a- HOLY SHIT.

You are_ off the ground. _As in, _you can see the ground at least 20 feet below the house._ And that's not even counting the 12 feet that it is from you second story to the ground floor.

AR: EEEEE- WHAT DA FUCK.

Again, you jump back, thankfully not falling over, and stare out the window in confusion. Earthquakes and meteors don't lift houses up, right? Or maybe your house was _right _on a tectonic plate, and it had shot out of the ground? But...  
>You peer out again.<p>

That wouldn't have turned the ground all those different colors, though, right?

222222

You are _sooo _confused...

Eva: Freak out.

In the middle of the library, you can't really see outside and be startled at the strange scenery. Anyway, you already know what this place looks like, you had seen it when you skimmed through the future earlier. It was all cathedral-looking, with tall green spires and purple tile. You're dreading seeing the bats, you can already hear their annoying, mirthful shrieking.

222222

You rub you head tenderly. It still hurts from falling. You wonder if you should go wash your hair to get the blood oyt and clean the wound.

A draft blows in through the open library door and you shiver, rubbing your arms for warmth. Damn stupid light non-warm stupid dress... Wait... Hadn't The Father locked that door?

Eva: Turn around...Slowly.

A dark-grey beast looks up at you. It had been crawling from the shadows, trying to sneak up on you. When it notices you noticing it, it snarls and calls forth a squad of the same creatures. You slide your right hand up your left arm and onto your chest, and take a firm grip on your Bowie knife.

222222

The imps ready themselves.

You smirk.

Eva: STRIFE!

Hell yes.

AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE AGGRIEVE

...

AGGRIEVE

Cadeus: Talk to yourself.

PR: sssurplusss... cccinnamon... ossstentatiousssly... ssscccissssssors...

PR: ssshit thisss isss ssstupid. 8:/

You sigh as you hear Esset and the Sprite blissfully carry on with their conversation.

Cadeus: Troll Kirie.

Sounds fun.

222222

- panaceaReptile started trolling adroitRoyalty -

PR: girrrrrrrl?

PR: you there?

222222

She doesn't respond immediately. You cut your losses and go to your ChumpRoll. It could use a cleanup...

Cadeus: Delete GA and AC*.

Deleting grimAuxiliatrix, Kanaya, from your roll is only a little bit painful. She had barely ever talked to you, and it was obvious she didn't reciprocate your feelings. Oh well, it didn't matter now.

222222

The next name you hesitate on. arsenicCatnip, AC, The Pouncellor, Nepeta. These names you had called her, in order. She had been a good friend. She even went against her over-bearing moirail so the two of you could roleplay together.

222222

You miss the cat and snake puns, the late night roleplays, the stories you made up and the fake adventures you had, the sight of ':33' and '*ac roleplays*', and the promises that someday you would meet IRL, and go on real adventures. The sad thing is you didn't even know what you were, Nepeta sometimes called you ':33 furriends' and 'XOO furrenemies!' when you two role-played, but never once did either of you stop and say, "Are we role-play buddies or actual friends?"

You wished you could have saved her.

Niko: Cry.

What? Why? You can't cry right now, you have to make sure Kylie's alright.

222222

Your iPhone got texts from Yahoo!News, and the article it had most recently sent you was about meteors raining down from the sky all over the world. After a quick glance outside you concluded you weren't on the Earth (OH GOD WHAT OH GOD), and you remembered your poor, scared cousin.

222222

You had quickly calmed Hillary down, and she was now dozing in your lap as you sat on the couch, desperately trying to get ahold of your cousin.

222222

RP: ky?

RP: did you make it?

RP: ky? come on

RP: answer

RP: plz answer

RP: please

RP: are you alright

RP: ky

RP: are you okjay

RP: kyy

RP: KY!11

RP: ANSER

RP: KY

RP: oh god oh god

RP: please

RP: please

RP: answe

RP: r

RP: ky

RP: Kylie

RP: Ky-Ky?

RP: kyky please answer me are you alright oh god do you need help ky kylie answer answer me please plz plz plz its nik nikki niko answer please please are you alright answer god damn it please ky oh god answer me

RP: ky

RP: kyky

RP: are you dead

RP: ple

RP: please answer me

RP: please kyky

***This would have made more sense if I had got to post the fillers. :(**

**Anyway, questions:**

**1. What do you think everyone's lands should be? Got 'em pretty much figured out, but if a better suggestion pops up I'll take it.**

**2. Don't forget to stop by my tumblr. :D You can leave questions there, as I find the layout easier than FFN's review system.**

**Bye~**


	23. CRUMBLE

**Weeo Act 6! (If there is an Ophiuchus troll, I'm going to kill Cadeus. :/ Not... literally, but he shall die in my mind and be disowned. Though he won't, yanno, disappear from the story.) The characters are cool, lots of unexpected things have happened. :o ...I always loved Dave's bro, and seeing him in kid form is really cool. And it sucks for John and Jade, being stuck on the ship for THREE YEARS. That's gotta suck. :/ ...I hope Jade remembers DaveSprite. It would be absolutely TERRIBLE if he was stuck on the tiny Battlefield ALONE for three years. ...Also, will Rose and Dave meet up with the trolls and stay with them during the three years? I hope so! :D**

**...I can't believe Bec Noir fell in love with PM. XD That is ADORABLE. And slightly sad. (but mostly adorable) Oh! And all of the symbols **

**Also, FUCK THE GIFT OF GAB. I admit it is a neat concept (it also explains a lot), but why couldn't Mr. Hussie have told us _sooner? _Uggggghhhhh. I'm just going to roll with the answer I have in my head for everything. **

**Also, I _really really _hate having to make up troll-words. :/ So don't expect it a lot.**

**This chapter is a bit depressing. :I Bring tissues.**

**Chapter 23**

**START!**

[START]

kopycat101: Where's Kirie? Is she fighting a huge imp? :O

What? An imp? What's that?

You just heard a noise downstairs, and had frantically spun all your items out of your Sylladex (none of them hit Pepsisprite again, thankfully) in an effort to find something remotely weapon-like.

Your choices were: 1 sparkly pink hairbrush (a laughable choice of weapon), 1 ?-phone (which, while annoying, was a bit too expensive to throw at whatever had snuck in downstairs), 1 jar of peanut butter (there was only a slim chance that the intruder had a peanut allergy), and, of course, your trusty boomerang (and Boomerangkind was conveniently equipped as your Strife Specibus).

Cadeus: Talk to yourself.

Later. There are things to do right now! (And also, you feel a strange... aversion to talking...)

You make your way up through the tunnels, Esset and Vipersprite acting as an entourage a few feet behind you. The two snakes are still talking in hisses, to your annoyance.

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You come up to the trapdoor, and after a small debate, Esset pushes it open for you. What you see is a lot different than the plains that normally surround your home.

Orange sand is fucking _everywhere. __**Everywhere.**_

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By the Condesce, as far as you can see there are dunes of vermillion sprawled over the landscape. You've never seen this much sand _anywhere_!

…

Oh, excuse you, you didn't mean to use Her Imperiousness's name in such a... crude manner.

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Anyway, what strikes as very, very odd about the desert is that the sun (which looked very... _strange_) didn't burn you as stood there. Instead, it was very mild and warm, and you stood there for a few seconds basking in it with your eyes closed. And when you opened them, the Sun (?) didn't sear your retinas as Alternia's would.

It was very nice.

Cadeus: Adventure!

You take a few steps forward and are startled when you hear an angry hiss from Esset. You open your mouth to talk but the words won't come out. Esset just looks into your eyes and you can slowly hear his thoughts leak into your head. Damn, you have _got to _learn how to do that one day.

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_What are you doing?_

_PR: ...walking?_

_Very funny, ssmartassss. I mean, what are doing walking into thiss sstrange and myssteriouss land?_

_PR: ...exxxploring?_

_Without ssuppliess? Or your sstaff?_

_PR: ….8:/ maaaybe._

_*ssigh* Boy, go get your sstuff ready, we'll sscout the area later._

_PR: sssurre thing, Esssssset. 8:)_

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Oh well. It's better than being flat out denied.

Kirie: Choose your weapon!

After a bit of deliberation, you choose your purple plastic boomerang. If the Aboriginal people could use them to hunt, surely you could use one in self-defense! _Surely._

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So it is with increasing nervousness that you grip one of the boomerang's sides and head out of the safety of your room. It isn't until you are about halfway down the stairs that it occurs to you that this might not be just a regular burglar or whatever. The game had already fucking _transported you into a fucking TREE. _You hesitantly move down a couple of steps and try to peer around the corner to see what was causing so much racket. However, you don't need to, as the intruders show themselves to you.

Be the giant imp.

You can't be the giant imp, as there aren't any! Well, there is Bert the slightly larger than average imp, but there aren't any _giant _imps.

Go back to whoever.

Whoever: Be Niko.

Kylie still hasn't answered. Oh God.

You are so worried you can't sit still. You pace. Back and forth. In front of your computer desk as you wait for an answer on your iPod. No reply comes. Your legs shake and collapse and you fall onto the floor.

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Is she... dead? She hasn't answered since you both promised to enter together... Ky could have chickened out, she wasn't exactly the bravest girl... You knew you should have called her and talked her through entering! She was so scared, even if even she herself didn't know why! Your chest is tight and you cough loudly as your breath comes out in sharp, painful bursts. Oh God...

There's a tug on your T-shirt. You look over into terrified chestnut eyes.

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Hillary is suddenly kneeling next to you, fear etched onto her now wide-awake face. She looks at you with wide eyes, and you can tell that your breakdown is scaring her. You pull her onto your lap and hug her as she whimpers.

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You start trying to comfort her with calm words, but your voice dies in the back of your threat. Slightly worried, you shrug it off and hum 'Hush Little Baby' instead, rocking Hillary back and forth like your mother used to.

_RP: quiet hill-pill, i'm here..._

_232323_

Kirie: Be paralyzed.

You are.

As you stare at the strange creatures, your mind flicks through various video game enemies you've seen. They aren't exact copies of enemies you've seen on screens before, but there are similarities.

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While not particularly big or threatening, the bulky bipedal beasts in front of you practically _ooze _malice out of of their stocky, light-gray, crinkly looking bodies.

Still frozen, you watch as they growl to each other and snarl at you, their bodies tight with tension.

Two things then happen.

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First, you frantically instigate a STRIFE and hurriedly AGGRESS the monsters (which your Strife Deck identifies as 'Aluminum Imps'). Your PLABOOM (the shortened term of 'plastic boomerang') may have hit one, you aren't sure, as it was kind of a crap shot.

Second, the imps get really_ pissed._

Cadeus: Get packin', boy!

FINE, ASSSSSSHOLE.

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You're in your Weapons and Clothing block, digging around in your boxes and looking into containers. Deciding on what to bring is oddly hard, as you barely have any experiences with deserts. Should you bring a long-sleeved sweater, in case the nights get freezing cold? Or should you just wear a short-sleeved top, and light pants?

These are the questions that plague your _oh-ssso-troubled _mind.

(Cadeus: Flip off the author.

You do so, with great relish.)

After a bit more of deliberation, you pick out a dark gray tank-top (with your symbol on it, of course) and a pair of loose black pants. You kind of have a grudge against tight pants, but that's a story for... Well, there's never really an appropriate time for it.

Just know that it ends you passed out in a pile of cushions and Miss Maryam have a grand old time at your expense. Her snark practically killed you in the weeks after.

Cadeus: Elaborate on Miss Maryam.

Uh... There's not much to say that isn't totally awkward and uncomfortable to you.

Oh! She did give you clothes. A LOT of clothes. They weren't free though, she only did free ones for her... *ahem*... friends.

Instead, you traded her works of beauty for snakeskin. For a while, she was REALLY obsessed about it, making boots and belts and sashes and whatnot. But the she decided she hated it, and threw it all away.

*sssniff* Sss-sssorry, when you talk about Kanaya you just get so emotio_nal._

Kirie: Abscond!

You're trying! But the imps jump at your ankles and knock you over. You scream and have the breath knocked out of you as you fall. You gasp without air as the imps dig their claws in and others start dragging you down the stairs,

Kirie: Abscond!

You manage to flip yourself over and desperately kick at the imps pulling you down. Your Strife Specibus loudly beeps and your Emergency Specibi, Footkind, is equipped. Your attacks hit wildly, driving a few away from you.

Kirie: Abscond!

On all fours, you clumsily climb up the stairs as fast as you can. You shriek as two imps jump on you, one on your shoulders and another on your leg.

Kirie: ABSCOND!

The one on your leg starts pulling you down again while the other starts trying claw at your face. Screaming and flailing, you fall backwards and you and the imps tumble down the rest of the stairs into the mob of imps at the bottom.

Kirie: ABSCOND ABSCOND ABSCOND!

You can feel their claws on your skin and clothing and hair (ABSCOND) and you sob and flail and scream and suddenly the imps release their grip (ABSCOND) and snarl and you see flashes of white (ABSCOND) and hear, with a soaring (ABSCOND) and sinking heart, the sound of fizz and soft cooing.

Cadeus: Showcase yourself!

With a new bandana (a nice dark green mixed with black in a checkerboard pattern) and a sturdy pair of dark brown boots, you feel ready to take on the world! Well, this one, anyway.

...And, you have a long list of items stored in your Ouroboros modus, but whatever.

Such as: 5 JARS OF MEDIGEL, which should be very handy later on, VARIOUS ITEMS FROM YOUR WARDROBE, as you can never be too sure, SEVERAL FOOD-STUFFS, like grubloaf, and of course, delicious pieces of snake prepared in various ways, A DOZEN OR SO GALLONS OF WATER, it _is _a desert, A PAIR OF GREEN-TINTED GOGGLES, in case of the wind blowing sand, and, finally, your BO STAFF.

...

It's just a plain old staff, nothing special.

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Feeling accomplished, you race out of the block, and meet back up at the entrance with Esset. You grin up at him and pop the question:

_PR: ready to go? c:8_

He looks down at you with something akin to pride, nay, pure adoration as he leans down and rubs the side of his snout against your cheek. The affection is unexpected, but you cup the side of his hood anyway.

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Kirie: ABSCsee what's happening.

Piggen is flapping in the face of an imp and shrieking, while the Pepsisprite (!) shoots out what you suppose is white Pepsi, the high-pressured liquid hitting the imps and making them explode into brightly colored gems. One of the monsters smacks Piggen to the ground and you gasp and dive over to him. Scooping his thankfully still alive body into your hands, you ABSCOND the hell out of there and stumble back up the stairs.

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You don't go into your bedroom, instead taking a right and running into your parents' door. You set Piggen down and with shaking hands you reach up to the top of the doorway, where your mom hides a knife so she can get in after locking the door.

You can still hear the sounds of Pepsisprite fighting with the imps. The cacophony of loud snarls and shrieks echoes up to you.

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After a bit of maneuvering, the lock clicks open and you practically jump into the room, slamming the door and locking it behind you. You press your back to the door and try to calm your breathing down.

Piggen, who had flown in quickly before you shut the door, flutters over to your to your parents' lamp and unsteadily perches on it.

He is shaken up, but doesn't seem to be hurt.

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You, on the other hand, are a wreck and you are injured.

With the adrenaline from the fight slowly ebbing away, you are all too conscious of the wounds on your ankles bleeding and aching. You limp over to your parents' dresser and look through the drawers.

Taking out a pair of your dad's socks, you wrap them around your ankles to staunch the flow of blood and hold them in place with some handy Scotch tape lying on top of the dresser. Walking stiffly, you go to sit on the edge of your parents' bed.

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The shock of the situation hits you in the chest again, and a sob tears out of you as you curl up on your side into the fetal position and wrap your parents' blankets around you. You inhale the mixed scents of your parents', the light and fruity perfume of your mom and the smell of smoke that always followed your father, and blubber loudly. You want them here, comforting you and chasing the thoughts of monsters away. Where are they? Why aren't they _here_, with you?

Kirie: Buck up!

Sitting up, you hiccup a little bit before hardening your resolve. You're almost 15, motherfucking goddammit! You're a hard ass, tough-as-nails motherfucker who can fucking beat those shitty imps and totally fuck their shit up and- OH GOD.

You wail and howl as your facade shatters and you clench yourself into a small little ball.

Cadeus: Quessstion Esssssset.

Though the caring gesture is appreciated, you are extremely confused. You express this sentiment with a small noise as you pull away from Esset. A head-tilt further gets your point across.

_Bo-...Cadeus. I need to tell you this._

_I can't join you on your journey._

_The girl told me that I have to sstay here._

_N-not for forever, of coursse._

_I will be ssupporting you from here, home basse. _

_I will also be your communicator, ass you will be too bussy to check in with the other playerss._

_I will join you in the field in a while, but you musst do your firsst exxploration on your own._

_Do you undersstand?_

_..._

_You will be on your own, probably for the firsst time in your life._

...

_Are you ready?_

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With wide eyes and a slack jaw, you stare back at Esset. Strong, powerful, skilled Esset. Your protector, care-giver, fighting partner, (basically) your moirail. Your dad.

He's right, of course, you've barely been away from him all your life. And even then, he was usually in a block nearby, within distance if you were ever in trouble.

And now... You had to leave him behind?

It was... unnatural.

Esset: Give your charge your gift.

_Ah, yess._

_It'ss not exxactly a party, but there iss a gift. _

_Here, I know you need a new sstaff._

You pull part of your coils forward. In the middle is a black-wooded staff with two green 'S's painted near the top. This a gift you meant to give to him on his wriggling day, but put it off, as it meant you were truly giving Cadeus up to the game.

Cadeus: Accept ESSET'S GIFT.

You accept the staff with trembling hands and your Strife Specibi accepts ESSET'S GIFT as a weapon. It disappears and you fling yourself at Esset, weeping. He wraps himself around you and rocks you back and forth as you cling to him and whimper. He hisses out a soft rendition of 'Silence, Puny Grub', as he did when you were a wriggler.

...Let's leave them alone.

Check on Eva.

She's still fighting. It's kind of bori- OOOH! She slashed that one good! *ahem* Uh, I mean- WHOA! Look at all the blood! It's a shame she's wearing white... She should have thought that through.

...um... Back to C and Ess.

Cadeus: Break embrace.

You do as such. Wiping your clear-green tears tears away, you stare back at Esset with determination in your eyes and a quiver in your lip.

_PR: i'm ready._

_PR: i ssswear i'll make you proud of me!_

_Oh Cad... I am proud of you._

_PR: why? i haven't done anything yet! B:(_

_PR: you think you're proud now?_

_PR: wait til i've actually accomplissshed sssomething._

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With that, you run up and bounce yourself up the wall, pushing off with you feet so you can grab the edge of the trap-door opening. You pull yourself up, and without a look back, start off.

_Cadeus wait!_

You stop at the mental message and rush back. Esset looks up at you from the square of light the sun makes. You think loudly so he can hear you.

_PR: Yesss?_

_Here._

Esset's tail flicks upward and a bundle of cloth flies up into your waiting arms. You unbunch it and let the thick, gauze-like fabric lay out. The fabric is dyed in the color of your blood.

_It's a cloak. To protect you from the sun._

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With glee, you put the hood over your head (mindful of your horns) and fasten the side of the cloak to the pin near your neck. Letting the hood fall back down, you run your hand through the gap between the two layers of cloth and smile to yourself.

_It's made __sseveral layerss __of my sskin. And dyed with ssome of your MediGel thatss color wass too sstrong._

The tears come back. This is such a thoughtful and personal gift.

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Your Ancestor (? Maybe..) wore a cloak like this. The Shaman Hannah Venomany, or Hannahv Enomancy, you could never tell (hiswriting wasawfully bunchedtogether), was a scholar who wandered in the desert for 8 sweeps, just to learn about nature and healing and the like. And while Esset didn't like how you gushed over him, he still made you a replica of your Ancestor's cloak, and like your Ancestor (?), it was made from your lusus's shedded skin.

Cadeus: Bid your lusus farewell.

_PR: thank you..._

_PR: goodbye Esssssset, I'll sssee you later._

_Goodbye Cadeus._

_Be ssafe._

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And with that, you walk off into the horizon, your cloak blowing mildly in the wind.

**Questions-**

**1. Who do you want to focus on next chapter?**

**2. What do you think everyone's lands should be? Got 'em pretty much figured out, but if a better suggestion pops up I'll take it.**

**Don't forget to stop by my tumblr. :D You can leave questions there, as I find the layout easier than FFN's review system.**

**And, FINALLY, I think I'm going to get a God-tier hoodie! 8D Tell me which one you think I should get. (You can give a reason, but you don't have to) I'm kind of leaning towards Doom, Time, Space, and Rage, but it's soooo harrrrd. ;-;**


	24. PUSH

**SORRY SORRY SORRY**

**LIFE HAPPENED, AND IT WOULDN'T LET ME GO**

Eva: AGGRESS!

Too late. You're done with the slaughter now.

It's kind of unsettling how unaffected you are by actually _killing something_, but you put the thought out of your head. It's better not to worry about what it means right now.

242424

You walk over to the piles of blue and yellow-green gems, and as you get near, they are sucked up and a message pops into your head: [collected: SIXTEEN units of BUILD GRIST and FIVE units of LIMESTONE]. Huh. So this is Grist. Your earlier exploits into your session had shown some things to you about 'Grist'.

Not much, as you didn't want to spoil everything for yourself, but still you recalled that they were some sort of currency or something.

Whatever.

242424

Anyway, you _suppose _that you should check on the others. You know for a fact that they're still alive, but you should still make sure they aren't doing anything stupid.

Eva: Do the mind-thingy.

You do the usual, relaxing your muscles and clearing your thoughts. After a second, you initiate step 2: tightening your muscles and basically SCREAMING in your mind. You get as far as the high ceiling in the library, but can't go any further.

Eva: FUCK

After hitting your spirit-head on the ceiling, you slingshot back into your body, the pain in your head so intense, you curl into a ball with your mouth open into a silent scream.

OW FUCK FUCK FUCK!

Your head has suffered so much FUCKING abuse in the past FUCKING DAY ITS NOT FUCKING FUNNY!

AGHHHH! YOU'RE SO ANGRY YOU WANT TO SCREAM!

242424

But as you found out earlier, you can't. You can't talk, you can't use your spirit powers (hopefully it's temporary!), and you especially can't message your friends!

Eva: ...that last thing on the list didn't really match with the others.

Whatever! You're in no mood to be fucked around with, SO FUCK OFF!

The readers are pushed away with what little remains of Eva's psychic powers. They can still observe her, but they can't _be _her. The author has no idea how long this will last.

242424

The author sends the focus over to a character who has barely been touched upon.

IC: Are you alright?

Hmm?

What are you talking about, you are very fine indeed. You got a bit dizzy from... something, but you feel positively exuberant! It's like the whole planet was given an energy shot, and the ground under you buzzes slightly.

You take a look around, noticing the other Prospitans walking around with a bounce in their step. Yep, everything's fine!

IC: So what can we do with you?

Wellllll... You can walk to work.

You work at the PROSPITAN DAILY, a newspaper aligned with the PROSPITAN MAIL SERVICE.

It's a fairly easy job, as nothing ever really happens.

**SHORT, BUT BETTER THAN NOTHING, RIGHT?**

**I'LL HAVE TO ASK MORE QUESTIONS LATER, BUT FOR NOW:**

**WHO DO YOU WANT TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER?**

**(EVA NOT INCLUDED)**

**And, guys, I'm really trying to keep with this story. I'm getting bored with it, which I hate.**

**We'll see what happens.**


	25. hiatus

**Okay... Before this said that I was giving up...**

**But thing is, I _don't want to give up! _I hate not finishing things, and it would suck for me to just leave you guys hanging!**

***sigh***

**Just give me time.**


End file.
